BREAZE

Carol Head - President - Carol recently traded in her 77 acres at Ross Creek for a suburban block in Lake Gardens. With some more time on her hands now that she doesn’t have gorse to tackle and alpacas to breed she thought she’d get more involved with BREAZE and join the committee. Carol works as a GP in Community Health and Aboriginal Health and spends her spare time looking after her three teenage daughters, writing and trying to grow things. This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it


Steve Burns - Vice President - Steve is keen on permaculture, natural building and classic British bikes (sadly might have to leave the last one behind in the brave new world of peak oil). He's a writer & trainer (background in education and psychology) and his specialty is competency-based training and assessment. He has his own company and primarily audits registered training organisations against the Australian Quality Training Framework. He recommends that you read 'Heat' by George Monbiot. Steve thinks that climate change and peak oil will lead to many people adopting permaculture principles and practices and that 'business as usual' will wreck the conditions people need. The planet will survive, but maybe humans will become an endangered species! Growing your own food is the single most effective way to reduce your carbon footprint and water consumption while also giving you cheaper, healthier, fresher, tastier food, a little exercise and a connection to the seasonal cycles; it's a big win-win, really! Hablo un pequeño español This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Michele Harvie - Secretary - Be the change you wish to see. Think global, act local. These are two of her favourite axioms, and she tries to live her life by them. Which is why we find her in the role of secretary of BREAZE. Not surprisingly, she lives on a 10 acre property designed around permaculture principles, with her husband and their two young children. She is a local Girl Guide leader and has a niche business selling FAIRTRADE coffee. She also has a healthy disregard for the social norm of wearing matching socks. Michele is assisted by Edith Fry who is the BREAZE minutes secretary. This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Chris Murphy - Treasurer - Chris is a tax accountant working in Ballarat at RSM Bird Cameron. He lives in Brown Hill with wife Jacinta and young daughter Ava. Chris spends his spare time at home in the garden growing veggies with mixed success. Chris believes it is inevitable that we will all be forced to live more sustainably, but thinks it is critical to act now before it is too late. 

Joe Boin - Assistant Treasurer - Joe is a secondary school Science teacher who claims not to know everything. He lives in a mud-brick house with his wife, Louise, on a wildlife-friendly block at Invermay. Their 3 adult kids come home regularly to visit. He rides a bike around town most days, mainly to stop his aging body from seizing up, but the hip-pocket benefits and so does the Planet. Joe enjoys making things out of wire, wood and junk (when he's not wearing the BREAZE super-bean-counter cape!). This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Graeme Drysdale - Graeme, Gale, and their children Vienna and Zane are custodians of 82 acres of indigenous habitat. During a 4-year campaign to preserve remnant habitat in Mt Helen, Graeme concentrated on planning policy and law. His submission to Ballarat City Council became a template endorsed by the Environment Defenders Office, subsequently used as a model by other community alliances. Other submissions include BCCs Municipal Strategic Statement and the Canadian Valley Outline Development Plan. Graeme is also experienced in managing media campaigns. This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Hedley Thomson - Hedley is a qualified town planner who over the past 30 years has worked at local, regional and state government level and in the private sector, principally in strategic land use and environmental planning where he has enjoyed developing integrated environmental strategies and putting the recommendations to work on the ground. For the past 16 years, Hedley has lived in Ballarat where he has put this approach into action through numerous projects, most notably through the implementation of the LINCS Strategy and the Yarrowee River Landscape Management and Master Plan. Hedley is currently working as a freelance planning and environmental consultant, that sees him working on creative projects within organizations as varied as THA Landscape Architects in Ballarat, the Ballarat Environment Network and the Australian Koala Foundation. This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Dave Watson - Dave's day job has him working in the field of sustainability, helping the community to navigate the rising seas towards a sustainable future. Dave moved to Ballarat with this family in 2007, trading the pollution and fast life of inner Melbourne for the serenity of acreage just outside Ballarat. At home he tries to entertain two young sons whilst wondering what he and his wife, Tamzin, ever did with all their time in a pre-children world. He also gets to take his work home when they attempt to reduce their family's environmental footprint to less than that of a small town. It all seems to make sense, though, when the bread comes out of the oven, the clothesline is fluttering with a rainbow of nappies, and the pace slows down just a little. This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Andrew Aitken - Andrew lives on a reasonably self sufficient bush property just out of Buninyong. Being off grid for water and power has been challenging but  it is something his family is proud of achieving. Andrews area of interest is self sufficiency with food production and energy supply from renewable resources. His concern is that his children will not enjoy the planet as he has done. It worries him that if we don’t act to stop uncontrollable global warming the boys will not be able to experience the animals and plants the current and past adult generations have been able to experience. Through people like the members of BREAZE he can see the light at the end of the tunnel and a rich and wonderful future for all animals and plants. This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Julia Mether Selkirk - “Do your best & Walk your Talk” are two of Julia’s motto’s. After owning a Holistic Health Practice for over 10 years in Brighton & South Yarra, Julia moved to the Ballarat region to have her children and to live a more self-sufficient lifestyle. Julia was raised in the country by a father who built his own solar hot water system in the 1960’s and a passive solar house in the 1970’s. His influence must have rubbed off! Now Julia wants her children to have a similar experience, where they can appreciate their impact on the environment. Julia is a qualified Home Sustainable Assessor. Passionate about making a difference, she enjoys water-wise gardening, growing her own food and teaching others sustainable living practises. 

Sub-Committees BREAZE Action Groups