Introducing ... Danny Vadasz: a lifetime of social activism and a career in business places newly-appointed ACF Chief Operations Officer, Danny Vadasz, in an ideal position to take ACF into the future. With a focus on global sustainability, Danny never forgets that change begins in his own backyard.
What appealed to you about working for ACF?Once I had decided that I wanted to redirect my career to the environment sector, I made a short list of organisations I thought were relevant and effective in advocating sustainability and, in particular, climate change, and ACF was on top of that list. And as circumstances had it, an opportunity came up at ACF.
How did you become an environmental activist?
My politicisation was informed by two things. My family are holocaust survivors, so I grew up with an acute awareness of human rights issues, but also, as a gay man, I experienced discrimination first hand. In my early years I worked in social reform, civil rights and health promotion, and you can't be interested in questions of equity without also being concerned about the environment. Poverty, racism, injustice--the exploitation of human capital is inexorably connected to the exploitation and degradation of our natural resources.
I've always been drawn to work within the core issues of our time. For me, in the seventies it was social justice, now it is climate change.
Describe a typical day for you
The only typical thing about my day is the recurring challenge to balance time spent on process with time set aside for important long-term strategic and creative planning. That's a daily battle.
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When I first began at ACF, I was just in awe of the depth of knowledge and commitment of the people here. Working with our campaigners is great. I have always considered myself to be a campaigner. Looking at ways of integrating our marketing activities with our campaign activities is exciting.
I really enjoy mixing with ACF supporters. I have met extraordinary people and seen amazingly generous philanthropy--it's both humbling and inspiring.
When you're not busy saving the planet, how do you like to spend your time?
I haven't had to worry much about how to spend my spare time since joining ACF! But my previous career in health taught me the importance of nutrition and exercise in managing stress and workloads.
Actually, what I really enjoy is applying what I am learning here to my own life. Behaviour change begins at home so I try to apply the principles of sustainability to my garden and to improving energy efficiency in my home.
I think that one of the great challenges for ACF is how to make sustainability relevant to ordinary people, to show them that there are small but significant changes they can make in their lives that nevertheless add up to something that can move the world. Going through that same process myself gives me a sense of what people are grappling with.
How do you see environmental activism evolving?
Environmental advocacy has traditionally relied on policy interventions. Climate change in particular challenges this way of campaigning because of its time horizon. The natural cycle for a politician is three to four years, yet we have to deal with a 'diabolical' problem that will gradually unfold over a 10, 30 or even 50 year time scale. As the current landscape demonstrates, its almost impossible to get our politicians to think on that sort of time scale when they are completely focused on the next poll.
The challenge now is to not only fight for good policy, but also to engage with people who can influence change beyond policy. That means we have to affect and work with the community, other institutions and the private sector, including those who are largely responsible for the mess we're in. It really is time for an intra-sectoral grand alliance.
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| Publication: | Habitat Australia |
|---|---|
| Article Type: | Interview |
| Geographic Code: | 1USA |
| Date: | Apr 1, 2010 |
| Words: | 598 |
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