About Us

When I think about why this dream of ours has become a reality it's really pretty simple. Scribbling our signatures into my small Japanese diary that night and signing the next two years of our lives away to an almost unimaginably massive task has proven two things to me. You'll never be more naive, stubborn and determined as you are in your youth and that when you surround yourself with positive people that share a similar passion, absolutely anything is possible.

Getting to grow up surfing up and down Australia's east coast has given me a far deeper appreciation for the environment than any textbook ever could. After finishing high school I still remember coming back into Sydney staring at all the buildings telling myself that we'd become a cancer on the planet and these changes to our environment could be irreversible. So why enrol in an architecture degree then? I realized that these buildings weren't the problem it was the people that created them. Why are we living in double brick two storey houses in the hot Australian summer and then air conditioning every room? If I could dream of a more sustainable built environment then I should become one of the people creating it.

So going to school where I did and getting to live where I do has really shaped the direction of my life. I am surrounded by people who share an appreciation of nature and its preservation. Friends who get just as excited at the thought of raisin toast after a surf as they do gardening in their own permaculture forest. Ultimately, when you share a vision with people that have enough passion to turn that idea into real action, there is nothing equal to it.

So why commit to wearing lycra and spending an entire year circumnavigating the country with a sore backside? We are in such a lucky position to have had the opportunity to go to school and University and even luckier to have the support networks of family and friends around us constantly. Like so many Australians we are in a position to really make a positive difference and that's why we jumped at the chance to make the MyPOWER journey happen. It wasn't so much about cycling or getting to see Australia's hidden gems. It was about realising we were in a position to make a change, talking about it and taking Action. If I've learnt nothing else from this experience it will be that truly anything is possible if we are willing to take the leap between thinking and doing. That to me is what MyPOWER is all about.

I want to find happiness. I think everybody does, although not all of us look in the same places to find it. This tour has taught me much about happiness. I have learned from listening to strangers, new friends, and even just by reconsidering those things that my parents have always told me, those repeated tales that go in one ear and out the other.

Overseas volunteering, Indigenous studies, and philosophy gave me a different insight into how I viewed the "environment". Firstly, we are part of, not apart from the environment. When our early morning coffee is boiled by a coal power plant running at less than 40% efficiency, and the combined pollution from these processes melts polar ice, we can see that there is no "pristine" - our footprints tread everywhere.

Doing a Permaculture Design Course really opened my eyes to the double standards of modern living. It is strange coming from a city where few people know what permaculture means. So just to let you know, Permaculture entails the design of sustainable human settlements, using pure science and ethics and mimicking natural systems. After graduating from this course, one thing that sticks in my mind is that our society does not live in real time. Fossil fuels are mummified bodies of energy created by the sun in a past epoch. Do we have the right to use this energy from the past, and pollute the world of the future? Or should our energy come primarily from today's sun?

It is the atmosphere that most rapidly connects life's activities, from the air we breathe, to the pollution we emit. But is the climate changing? I don't think it's relevant. We can gamble with the future of following generations, and we can debate the advice of thousands of scientists, but I prefer to ask a simpler question: is there any good argument against sustainability? No. In fact everybody has the power to take individual responsibility for some of life's critical resources, and I think this is the key to greater happiness.

My earliest memories involve playing in the backyard with my brother. Spending every moment I could enjoying the freedom of the outdoors in the sunshine. I think this is why I have such a passion for the environment. I want my kids, and their kids to have that same sense of freedom and enjoyment that I did and still feel.

I think that our generation is blessed with the opportunity of changing the course of human history in reshaping our relationship with the Earth. Minimising our pull on finite natural resources, decreasing our impact on ecosystems and ensuring a beautiful and healthy place for the future of our race.

Equilibrium is a driving force in my view of the Earth and our impact on it. We are currently spiralling towards a state of devastation, constantly abusing our position at the top of the food chain and losing invaluable resources and species along the way. Reversing this spiral and finding a state of equilibrium where the human race can live in harmony with our environment would bring me more happiness than winning any grand final, or anything else that I can think of.

I believe we do not have to make radical changes to the way we live, just smarter choices. Small changes that in time will save you money and save your children's future. This vision and the support of the MyPOWER team have helped me realise that this is the opportunity of a lifetime. To touch as many Australians with our message and achieve through you, small actions that when multiplied have a big impact in reducing the ecological footprint of Australia. I am proud to be a part of this journey and our success will be the result of the dedication and passion we share for the environment.

Everybody can make a difference and help make the change in our culture to forever be remembered as the generation that saved the Earth. Be a part of it!

I have not always had a passion for the environment - at least not one that I recognised. It wasn't until the first year of university, when I was asked to write a list of my most memorable experiences, that I noticed a clear pattern emerging. ALL of my most cherished memories involved experiences with people in unique landscapes. My most vivid childhood memories are building bike jumps at the local nature strip after school. Possibly the saddest day of my younger life was when I arrived there to find it being cleared by heavy machinery. The land that provided me with so many good times exists today as a lifeless dirt patch.

My recent years of university, reading and travelling have helped educate me about the changes we need to make as a nation as we look towards a sustainable future. What is needed is truly a group effort, with an emphasis on action. Governments are largely responsible for guiding populations in the right direction, while populations have the power to make these changes more politically viable.

I had never really expressed my feelings for the environment to my close friends before, and when we first spoke seriously about it together in October 2006, it came as a surprise to me that they shared my enthusiasm for change. MyPOWER was formed with this shared vision, and acceptance of responsibility for the world's future. We don't want to focus on a nature strip that was, or a dirt patch that is, but rather on a world that can be.