Arron Wood - Profile

Arron Wood is a passionate environmentalist and successful campaigner for healthy rivers.

His dedication to the environment has won him a number of national and international environmental awards including his recent selection for Al Gore's "Climate Change Leadership Program".

Growing up on the banks of the Murray River, one of Australia's major waterways, Arron became aware of the devastating effects of pollution from an early age. He was determined to make a difference and decided to focus his life on environmental education.

In 1999, he created the "International River Health Program", a campaign involving hundreds of students and teachers taking part in a biannual student-run conference addressing environmental issues. Students research these issues with industry mentors and then present back to their peer groups. It is the first ‘kids teaching kids' environmental event in Australia and has inspired a generation to look after their environment. He has since expanded the program and now organises a number of similar youth-based events throughout the country.

For his pioneering campaign Arron was named "Young Australian of the Year (Environment)" in 2001 and won the United Nations' "Individual Award for Outstanding Service to the Environment" in 2006. He also won the "Prime Minister's Environmentalist of the Year Award" (Banksia Foundation) in 2007.

Arron studied Forestry at Melbourne University and also worked within the water industry. He then founded his own business "Firestarter Pty Ltd." in 2000, an environmental communication and education consultancy business. The company connects the environmental management industry with the greater community, such as schools and companies.

The organisation offers strategy development, major events organisation, media and marketing promotion, education campaigns and project management.

In addition to his involvement with natural resource agencies such as the Murray-Darling Basin Commission, Arron also works with a range of international companies like Sony, Toshiba and PricewaterhouseCoopers as well as national and state governments in Australia and New Zealand.

He is a member of the "National Council on Education for Sustainability", which advises the Australian Minister for the Environment. He has also completed a Churchill Fellowship, which took him to the United Nations in New York and Geneva researching environmental education programs, and has subsequently conducted projects for the United Nations.

Arron sees raising awareness and education as the key to protecting the environment. "We know how to save water and how to save energy, so why aren't we doing it? That's what I've always wanted to focus on".

He is a highly sought after public speaker and has co-produced and presented a number of TV productions, appearing on some of Australia's most popular TV programs.

Arron has also written a resource book for teachers on children teaching children about the environment and how the sense of place created through genuine involvement of young people can be used to build healthy communities.

Now based in Melbourne, Arron loves to return to his beloved Murray River in Mildura. "The river is always there for me. If I have kids one day, I want them to be able to go fishing and swimming in the lake like I did. The greatest gift you can give the next generation is the environment. It's as simple as that."

To learn more about Arron's One Life, One World, Our Future programme go to www.onelifeoneworldourfuture.com