#which means i go from my current physical position as a recycler on a team of all guys whom ive formed camaraderie with

[burnedlegend-archive]

.

[jorjathomas]

Existing brands

When discussing our ideas, our group found it important to look at existing competitors and what qualities they have that could inspire our brand and its purpose to make a positive change. We mainly looked at the business called We Are Tala in this post however there is come other competitors which share similar ideas to us which we wanted to research. Below is some of Sushila’s research regarding the brand WeAreTala as well as another brand which I believe we could take inspiration from. 

Sushilas Research; (italics is my analysis)

 Packaging- Tala’s packaging is advertised as made out of 100% recycled plastic and is able to be recycled after use. Their tags are biodegradable with seeds inside which can be planted.

I think our brand should research into biodegradable seeds for tags as this could be an interesting way to engage consumers to unconsciously help the planet. These subtle changes could be a big change for customers to make a difference to the fashion industry. I think Self Made should aim to use a little plastics as possible and try to keep paper and cardboard to package our products. This is because although plastic packaging can be recyclable, the brand relies on the customer to put the waste the recycling or for it to disposed in recycle waste. Most of the time this might not happen so plastic is disposed into landfill. Cardboard is biodegradable as it is made from wood fibres so if this did occur after highly advising the consumer to recycle the packaging, it would be able to start a biodegrading process in comparison to plastic which takes hundred of years to decompose. Laura Parker (2018) from The National Geographic reports that ‘ the 8.3 billion metric tons that has been produced, 6.3 billion metric tons has become plastic waste. Of that, only nine percent has been recycled. The vast majority—79 percent—is accumulating in landfills or sloughing off in the natural environment as litter. Meaning: at some point, much of it ends up in the oceans, the final sink.’  I defiantly believe it would be beneficial to stay away from plastic packaging as it is possible as seen from fashion business such as ZARA.

Customers-Their customer base are women aged 20-35 who care about their bodies and the environment. These women are likely to be very active on social media, TALA suggests this in the way they show their clothes, the women are posing in scenes like what would be seen on Instagram. They show that they are inclusive of all sizes and people by using women of different sizes, ethnic backgrounds and disabilities in modelling. This shows what outfits look like on different sizes and that they are inclusive which encourages minorities and plus size women to purchase their products. 

This is what inspired us to research into their brand as they welcome all women in society. We are defiantly going to convey Self Made with the same intentions as this will align with our vision and purpose. Overall making us a brand who focuses of making a change rather than making profits, with the help of imagery and encouraging illustrations, can help our brand achieve this message and engage all women who have the need to feel better mentally and physically.

Price-£30-£50 for leggings made from recycled materials, their price is similar to Gymshark so they are average for their market. They often do sales to get rid of extra stock with like this current one for 30% off selected lines of underwear, this encourages first time buyers to try a new garment which helps build their customer base. They also have a 10% off discount if you refer a friend to the brand, this helps promote the brand for very little cost using the customer and offering a good reward. If a brand is recommended by a friend they are likely to trust that friends opinion and make a purchase.

TALA is very similar to what kind of brand we want to create, they are environmentally aware and make clothes for the customers we wanted, their price range is good and they are also an online brand which is what we want for our brand so the prices appear to be realistic for us. They use more interesting colour than most environmentally aware brands and don’t limit their style to ‘looking’ sustainable (off whites, loose cottons) they found a way to be sustainable without compromising their brand idea which is something we were concerned about struggling with.

Vision and Purpose- But what does Tala actually stand for?

This fashion brand is known by their amazing activewear clothing but also by their sustainable style. Tala is a slow fashion brand that stands for the best for this planet, having a lot of partnerships with facilities who provide them the best sustainable technologies, processes, and materials. They also care about how their products are produced and who makes them, they research wisely before working with any supplier to make sure they hold the right intentions.

“We’ll only work with suppliers whose practices align with our values, and we ensure this through the use of regular external audits and by maintaining a conversation to constantly improve conditions.” – Tala, #itscooltobekind.

When it comes to being sustainable, we have to be ethical too and tala is a brand who cares about the ethics of their supply chain. Their mission right now is to create 100% recycled and upcycled sustainable styles that are accessible to everyone. On their webstore they also have a blog included called “Tala Talks” where they approach things such as sustainability, mental health, body confidence and other important themes, these talks are a good way for their team to express themselves, share their opinion and as well explain important topics, also, this is a good way to people get to know them a little better.

I defiantly believe that this brand has been a catalyst for certain areas of our brand, I have gained a lot of knowledge about sustainable materials off their website. I think we will defiantly create our brand similar to this but our pivotal point would be using more colour and techniques that would engage our younger audience and give of powerful moods. I will talk about colour psychology later. From my perspective, I think we should sell as much stock as tala does as keeping our brand small to an extent makes a consumer feel more unique when wearing our items. This could all change depending on the popularity of our brand of course but at the present moment, starting with less stock will keep our budget low and reduce stock waste problems and having create sales.

A brand ,which I surprisingly found on my Instagram Ads, uses a range of bright colours in order to influence a customers shopping habits. They incorporate brighter colours with crucial environmental information as well as their own promotion to create a positive message for their brand. This business is called The PanGaia.

What I love about this brand is that they don't just post their products advertising on Instagram but also create really good information surrounding their clothing. This helps a potential consumer become educated on certain environmental lifestyles aswell as becoming interested in their brand. I think this is a really smart way of using this platform as they use the standard ways of marketing such as influencer engagements. However, they also use these other posts that impact the audience more significantly. For example; You read a post on their profile explaining the impact fast fashion has on the environment. They explain popular fashion brands which impact fashion pollution and you realise that you shop their frequently. You most likely now feel bad and aren't happy with your shopping habits and how it is damaging the planet. Then as you scroll, in the following post PanGaia gives you an alternative solution to this problem by advertising their garments which causes you to engage and potentially want to buy from them as you know you are doing good to the planet. The void is filled and the brand has made you more conscious about fast fashion problems.

 In addition to this smart technique, they also set out their feed based on particular colours trending at the time. They incorporate every post around  garments and have them match one another which you can see in the images above. I really like this idea as it looks much more visually pleasing in my eyes as well as heightens their overall message as most of the posts relate to the environment in some sort of way. I think Self made should try to do this with their social media as this platform is one of the most important factors when trying to engage our audience. Keeping our Instagram with the same morals but with our own vision of helping women as well as sustainability could really help our brand become successful. A tutor mention doing a colour of the month which I thought was interesting to follow up on. Using our colour psychology knowledge and posting our products and inspiring posts similarly to PanGaia could make our brand stand out in comparison to our competitors.

To conclude, both of these brands can be considered as our competition in different ways however as our overall message is to create positivity I don't really feel the need to compete with them as they have the same message as us. They are both sustainable and want to help reduce fashion pollution. They inspire me more than anything and help me visualise what sort of identity I want this business to have. I think we should definitely use some of the techniques which I have explained in this post because they are adequate ways for our group to show our initial ideas for Self Made.

[theatredirectors]

Lauren Hlubny

Hometown?

I’m originally from a small town in South Jersey called Shamong.

Where are you now?

I live in Brooklyn, NY

What's your current project?

I’m currently working on Thoughts & Prayers — a dance-theatre-concerto—which for us means a dance-heavy, music-driven theatre piece. It presents my thoughts on the American way of dealing with calamity - be it an act of man or a natural disaster.  This work is about many things, but the most compelling for me is the focus on how to fight complacency and engage in the world in a way that makes a difference. Thoughts & Prayers is about the different ways we can react to catastrophe. Through music, dialogue, and dance, we explore human reactions, such as numbness, mourning, guilt, laughter, and more which keep us stuck in cycles of disaster, until there reaches a point where something changes, someone listens. We take the audience on a journey from letting things happen and feeling trapped and hopeless, to taking whatever agency they can. This piece is tragic, funny even at moments, but overall it is about hope. Tragedy may happen, but we have the power to do something about it. It is our goal that the audience leaves with the tools necessary to take that next step towards action. Please join us September 19-29 (tech is in less than two weeks!) at TADA! Theatre in Manhattan.

Why and how did you get into theatre?

My first exposure to theatre was sneaking into my living room way past my bedtime and catching the ending of the movie version of Evita featuring Madonna. From then on, I was hooked on movie musicals, borrowing them in bulk from the local library and devouring them learning everything I could. When I got to high school, and they didn’t have a theatre teacher, I went around getting students to sign a petition so that the school would hire one (and they did!). I was really lucky to go to Florida State University for theatre and cultural anthropology, and it was there that I studied under some of the premier specialists of Jerzy Grotowski and Vsevolod Meyerhold in the United States, both trailblazers in experimental physical theatre, and that’s what kept me in this field years later. It’s really incredible that almost the entirety of the creative team for Thoughts & Prayers studied at some point in time at FSU, whether it be for their undergrad or doctorate, and every collaborator on the team has had the capacity to tour the world, speaking at conferences, performing music, presenting work, and engaging with the best of the best around about town here in NYC too, at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Alvin Ailey, NY Deaf Theatre, Joe’s Pub, and countless other top-notch places.

What is your directing dream project?

My directing dream project is one which is capable of paying everyone involved the amount they deserve while not compromising our desire to innovate in the space between circus, theatre, dance, and music or our values of focusing on work which is conscious of the political climate in which it is created. When I started to devote myself to being a director, I started a list of projects, and they range in scope, some are huge circus-style pieces (yes, complete with stilts) which I want to stage in public arenas in Paris and make them free to anyone who would like to come, while some are smaller--like staging a classical story on a sailboat sailed by dancers. I’ve always been fond of taking well-known stories and completely upending them,  finding a way to make the work accessible without sacrificing the desire for positive change. I don’t have my sights set on staging any canon works, I’m more invigorated by the idea of continuing to make something completely new--and to challenge myself in ways that make my craft harder and harder. The audience arrangement is one example of how I’ve been able to do this and staging Thoughts & Prayers in tennis court style seating was incredibly challenging. How can I keep developing my research and the research of theatre practitioners before me while pushing myself to take risks that are  almost insurmountable?

What kind of theatre excites you?

The kind of theatre that excites me is aware of the theatre researchers that came before and also conscious of the world in which it is made—the type of theatre that provides a call to action without sacrificing the desire to present the highest caliber of skill in its performers. I’m excited by theatre which pushes people just outside of their comfort zones, performers included. Examples of shows that take risks like this include Fairview, Indecent, and Mlima’s Tale, shows that take risks with their visuals and their audiences, and do not shy away from the decision to make something new and meaningful in the current climate. I am moved by theatre which considers the range of accessibility that their audience has to the content. I am thrilled by theatre which entices its audience away from complacency and vaults them into a conversation, keeping them buzzing weeks, months, even years after with the memories and the call to action embedded in the piece. Embedded in this work, we are challenging the audience to observe one another, and be on both sides of the discussion.

What do you want to change about theatre today?

A big difficulty for theatre-makers today is finding outside-the-box ways to survive. Taking big risks to make work you believe in is difficult when you have to put food on the table, but risks are what make history—and make truly compelling work. It is the responsibility of theatre to make change happen in the world and not to recycle stories that glorify problems (like mistreatment of women), to provide a safe space (especially for makers from less represented communities) to question society and inspire change. In order to make this sort of theatre commercially accessible, producers and benefactors need to put money into it and people need to stop stigmatizing humans who wish to become artists. In my own practice, I only work on shows that deliver a message of equality and positive social change to their audiences. I endeavor to be inclusive in my casting. I do not condone aimless violence on stage—as violence is violence no matter the setting. I am committed to ensuring that my performers and collaborators feel safe to be vulnerable in our rehearsal and performance spaces. I find ways to compensate my teams any way I can, whether it be by honing skills they are interested in acquiring or tirelessly raising money so that everyone on the team gets paid. I don’t compromise when it comes to my values. I like to recall a meeting I had with an acclaimed neurosurgeon in Lublin, Poland, where he told me he actually admired what I do more than I could even know. When I asked him why, he said, “What I do saves lives, what you do gives people a reason to live.”

What is your opinion on getting a directing MFA?

It’s a prudent move if you wish to teach at the university level.

Who are your theatrical heroes?

Pina Bausch. Crystal Pite. Yes, they’re both in the dance community, but for me, they are trailblazers in the performing arts, past and present, and it’s difficult to find historical role models in the dance-theatre field who are not men identifying. These two women have an incredible capability to create movement vocabularies which not only captivate me but take me places narratively that I cannot get out of my memory. The specificity in their work is not only physical but the emotional throughline, the hopelessness and the joy, the dark and the bright all wrapped into one moment--they make me want to keep working harder to find that place in my narratives. I find myself holding my breath when I see their works, and when the curtain falls I’m saddened that the experience has ended.

Any advice for directors just starting out?

Practice. Hone your craft. Take weird gigs. Respect your performers. You never know where an opportunity will come from. Before I was a director, I was a performer and a stage electrician. My devotion towards learning those two crafts, and the ins and outs of how they could inter-play on stage gave me the skills to create the images on stage I see only in my dreams, and in a safe, respectful, and resourceful way. Taking on strange challenges, like directing a circus-theatre show in a backyard in Maine for a community, that included gathering arborists to make sure the tree is safe enough for a trapeze to be strung up (and there are pictures of me stringing up a thirty-foot sheet to a tree limb so I could backlight a trapeze artist). My biggest advice would be to work with collaborators that you believe in—surround yourself with people who are willing to put the work in, and are not willing to compromise their values, and you will always feel fulfilled.

Plugs?

Join us for Thoughts & Prayers and for various post-show panel discussions led by social justice and arts organizations, September 19-29. Since the show is in tennis court-style seating (audience on both sides of the stage), plan to come at least twice to catch all of the action! 

https://thoughtsandprayerstheshow.brownpapertickets.com/.

[judefan844-blog]

trying to recycle of products should be provided

That way, they will know you are listing to them. When I talk to someone again after the initial conversation, I always like to start with something personal or something they like. It is cheap jerseys much easier to build on the relationship if you know something about them.

cheap nfl jerseys Not unaware, Forst said with a smile. Have an Internet connection, so I can see what going on. But I think we set out at the end of the season with a plan, and it wasn going to be swayed by what public opinion was. The knee is the largest joint in the body and also the most susceptible to injuries. Included in the knee is the lower end of the thighbone, the upper end of the tibia, the kneecap and several large ligaments, all of which help the joint stabilize and absorb shock. Bicycle riding is effective at rehabilitating and strengthening the knee since it is low impact, non weight bearing, and pedaling is a controlled movement in a stable position.  cheap nfl jerseys

cheap jerseys Baron is mindful of his impact both in the present and in perpetuity. "I didn't want to exist, and then die. That will never be acceptable for me." Though football is no longer his life, he appreciates his time with the Steelers: "To be part of the www.cheapjerseysofchina.com Steelers history was pretty cool.  cheap jerseys

Cheap Jerseys free shipping But the cause of sport is undermined when its representative bodies wilfully deny evidence of the influence that sponsorship of high profile sporting events can have on attitudes and behaviour, particularly among the young. And sport is differentfrom the arts or other cultural pursuits: it alone proclaims the inherent physical health benefits of the activities it promotes. That's why, on this issue, the major sporting organisations ultimately argue from a position of weakness..  Cheap Jerseys free shipping

wholesale jerseys Perhaps one of the errors of people who want to improve their golf game is their carelessness in determining their weak points. A lot of people engage to different kinds of golf training aides without even knowing the direct benefits of its program. You would not be able to determine the best kinds of training aids for golf if you do not cheap nfl jerseys know the common things that you like to work on.  wholesale jerseys

cheap jerseys Currently, stop working one record jordan shoes for cheap is still online jordans for cheap a large number of demanding therapy. Sports activity make or model inventory extermination, more often than not after particularly lowest low cost locations, discount keeps, along the lines of tv channel to promote once again,, from your manufacturing facility otherwise at an affordable price purchased abroad, via shawls by hoda, and a lot more. Became reported in the past, trying to recycle of products should be provided for you when proven crystal clear materials routes, which includes manufacturing unit establishments so overlook outlets.  cheap jerseys

Cheap Jerseys china I attached a picture with my three daughters in their costumes. I did 30 in all but didn want to post pictures with others children in them. The black outline on the white pawn didn show up well with the black background in the picture but www.cheapjerseys-football.com looked good on stage during the show.  Cheap Jerseys china

wholesale jerseys from china Three times a week, 48 weeks a year, a four man team drives a huge yellow Hummer to a different location. It might be a college or high school campus, a major fraternity gathering, an NAACP event, MTV Spring Break, or BET Spring Bling: If lots of African American teens will be there, the Hummer wants to be there, too. Army It to the Streets campaign, a hip hop flavored tour launched a year ago by Vital Marketing Group, the Army African American events marketing team.  wholesale jerseys from china

wholesale jerseys Children will have fun riding the atvs. You need to be very helpful to teach the children how to use the quad. Then they can be confident and enjoy riding. The fact is, your mom has probably gotten used to replying "oh, I don't need anything!" when you ask what she'd like for her special occasions, and she possibly even believes it too. That's why we've pulled together this list of fabulous gifts for Mom that she wholesale jerseys from china would never buy for herself. The bonus? She will absolutely adore them..  wholesale jerseys

wholesale jerseys In 1960, the Lakers relocated to Los Angeles, and the Warriors moved to San Francisco, in 1963. The following year, the Nationals left upstate New York to bring basketball back to Philadelphia, changing their nickname from "Nationals" to "76ers." This means out of the original eight franchises, only the Knicks and Celtics have not relocated at any point.Although Japanese American Wataru Misaka technically broke the NBA color barrier in the 1947 48 season when he played for the New York Knicks, 1950 is recognized as the year the NBA integrated. This year witnessed the addition of African American players by several teams, including Chuck Cooper with the Boston Celtics, Nat "Sweetwater" Clifton with the New York Knicks, and Earl Lloyd with the Washington Capitols.During this period, the Minneapolis Lakers, led by center George Mikan, won five NBA Championships and established themselves as the league's first dynasty.  wholesale jerseys

wholesale jerseys That neat and fashionable silhouette provides bow for the bohemian style and design, and give off a new hippie, Seventies feel. These types of bag bags are great pertaining to providing you with that will cozy, care free model it simple to take the summertime in fall, as well as take advantage of this bag all through the year! No matter if it actually a chic style and design or even edgy strong black ocean handbag, they may be incredibly practical and expose in which extra of curiosity to each and every beauty. We love this particular try to find the www.cheapjerseyssalesupply.com particular few days but that doesn invariably indicate you cannot make use of a good ocean throughout a few days!If you are looking for something more great and trendy, we propose a terrific carrier wholesale jerseys.

[daniellapaganoposts-blog]

#44 - Interview with Another Previous Campaign Coordinator

Tuesday, November 12, 2019

Duration: 38:41 min

Interviewer:Okay, my first question is what is your role or what was your role at Positive Change for Marine Life?

Interviewee:Um, it has changed over time, obviously, I didn't start with the role that I ended with. Um, so and that was in 2016, when I got here in Australia, I started as a Beach Cleanup Survey Officer. So I was running the beach cleanups fortnightly at Main Beach here in Byron and so basically, it involved making sure that the word was out there to bring people in for the fortnightly beach cleanups. It’s a location that a lot of visitors and transit people, so always putting the word out there, it was not necessarily locals that were participating, so, that was for a while, then the team grew a little bit and then we started doing more activities, like participating in events, having a stall, for example. So, putting a stall together, so that made me step up to the role of Coordinator of the campaign, Honour the Ocean. And, at that time as well that was a campaign that was called Activ8—well, there’s still the campaign, Activ8, um, with an eight at the end, instead of “ate”. And, I was also running that with activities in the Byron High School about plastic education and what we were doing as an organization in the area, and yeah, so I was—I guess on those two—the beach cleanups that were a part of Honour the Ocean, I was also involved with the events and the Activ8 with education.

Interviewer:When you were, um, kind of like promoted to the Campaign Coordinator, were you provided with any training or like materials of how to transition to that role?

Interviewee:No. (Laughs) No.

Interviewer:So, how did you go about it?

Interviewee:Um… I guess, I love those things, they kind of came naturally to me and also participating in things that were happening around here were showing me how other people were doing it. Because it's—it’s quite cultural, you know? Having lived in Brazil for fair few years being Canadian, we all have different ways of doing things, so perhaps—and I have actually organized events as a competition that was also around sustainability and only for women and beginners and really something that was friendly. And the approach was really different, the way you’d approach the businesses to get sponsors or raffle tickets and people to volunteer and help out and it was similar, but it's different, so yeah I guess when I first came here, I went to a fair few events because my intention was to volunteer and make my way into the not-for-profit world so I paid attention to those things, so that would have been my kind of, I guess, way of doing it. In saying that, Karl obviously has his own way of wanting Positive Change for Marine Life to be with the respect, understanding, um, education vision and that definitely is a training in itself. I guess, that's like, “okay, stick to that” and that was really aligned with my values, so.

Interviewer:So that was kind of like a model?

Interviewee:Yeah, and there is a way that he likes things to be, and like whether it's around the visuals and I really respect that every kind of branding is having their own guidelines and… and when I say that, I mean, like wider than just the branding, as a marketing, it's more than, “who are we for the community and how do we express ourselves towards the community?” and that was all around positivity and around understanding and respect and that's a different approach to other groups that perhaps are more activists or a bit more into lobbying, and so yeah, that was—in that sense, yes, that is the sort of training because we did have meetings, we did have them you know minutes been taken he did send a three-year plan that was really stating the vision of what was coming up and we were definitely asked to keep up with those visions.

Interviewer:Cool!

Interviewee:Yeah, so when I think about it, not a formal training and he did do induction for the new volunteers that were coming in and that's always like a good reminder of what he's expecting as well.

Interviewer:Right, and why did you want to initially get involved in Positive Change?

Interviewee:Because I love the ocean. I studied environmental geography in my undergrad in Montreal, in which I did an exchange program in Brazil and I did one year in Brazil, in which I chose to study mostly oceanography subjects. Um, and then that opened the doors to do my Master’s degree specifically in Oceanography and Coastal Oceanography and Geology called… Um, I'm just translating at the moment from Portuguese. (Laughs) But, Marine Geology, um, so I studied at a marine reserve in Brazil and how the pollution from the mainland was affecting the marine reserve that was a bit, um, not that far from a big city, and, with the currents and how that was impacting their ecosystems there. So, when I finished that I just felt like it was really lab focused and really researched and publication focused and my feeling was that the world was needing a lot more understanding of how things were working and I wanted to be in that gap bridging that space there, so when I came to Australia I wanted to find an organization and then Positive Change was the most I guess, present that I could find when I came here in regards to the ocean, so.

Interviewer:I was just gonna ask how did you find Positive Change, so when you say that that was the most present—

Interviewee:Oh, sorry!

Interviewer:No no no, that was the perfect Segway! I was going to ask you how did find about Positive Change, so you just said that they had a big present, was it online, or like physical presence?

Interviewee:Yeah, it was online, actually. But, I probably had seen the beach cleanup advertised and I feel like it was online that I saw that, but maybe I had walked around and seen them as well. But yeah I did get in touch online through an ad that I saw… I can't remember if it was on like some sort of job advertising thing or if it was on Facebook, but looking for like “hiring” and I remember found that interesting, it’s like “hiring” but volunteers, and I was like “how does that go together?” I thought it was paid when hiring, um, but I was like whatever, I can do it to actually see how people are doing things here, so, yeah. I applied and it worked.

Interviewer:That’s awesome.

Interviewee:Yeah.

Interviewer:When you became the Campaign Coordinator and you were overseeing some of the initiatives, and like Activ8 the Ocean or whatever, um what quality—what do you think qual—sorry, what qualities make a campaign or an educational program work?

Interviewee:Hm… it's a tough one. Um, adaptability. I think that would be the strongest because every campaign, every stakeholders that you engage with like, whether it's students in the school, whether… depending on the age and you know that goes beyond because in the school, we were also engaging with the admin sector and the principal and the canteen and the cleaners and so all of these people are people that the students engage with to work on making a difference based on what we bring about with their education content, so. I guess adapting to whether you're in a real kind of formal, institutional settled way and then you kind of have to go about with those limitations, challenges and still work towards making the students that they've had an impact through their process. Of course, the education, I understand it as the whole process for them have been learning but it's always good when there's something positive that come out of it and sometimes those limitations puts some barriers and same thing with the campaign with the beach cleanups and the reports that we had in working with counsel, um, the local businesses, their response is not always the most positive, so it's good to turn that into the positive always, so it motivates volunteers and the whole organization to keep them going I guess.

Interviewer:Right, yeah.

Interviewee:So I'd say… adaptability. (Laughs) Yeah.

Interviewer:Yeah, and then with, um, that—with adaptability, did you and the team always have like at least a little bit of like a set work plan before coming in or like a structure of how to, um, let’s say for Activ8 the Ocean and you guys have a work plan, even though that it may be going into it, you had to be adaptable, but did you have something prepared?

Interviewee:Um, yeah, we did organize, for that one for specifically we did get together before each presentation, as the team of volunteers that we're going in the school and design the presentations together, the PowerPoint and what was gonna happen in content. We had, you know, people external from Council for example, come and explain what was the recycling system around here, so this definitely involved some coordination beforehand and also making sure that the volunteers are there and checking on them and being kind to them as well because people are giving their time for free. Um, so that involves some sort of logistic around planning and making sure that people can stick to the plan, because also, sometimes organizing the beach cleanups for example, as a Coordinator, I wasn't the one running them, necessarily all the time. But then that frees up time to do the rest, but it happens quite a lot that volunteers, that are a bit less engaged or maybe have less of a, you know, vision in the future of being a part of this movement, um, they just have a big night on the Friday night and… (laughs) they just not show up. So, all of that involves a constant kind of plan… a Plan B. (Laughs) Yeah, so there was a structure in terms of, yeah, the beach cleanups, there’s like, um, everything’s at the Surf Club, so that has been discussed previously, to have the location of the material, organizing sheds to have things as well when we had the event at Splendour. That involved a lot of organization, uh, roster like start—like volunteers for five days to be—

Interviewer:--Splendour in the Grass?

Interviewee:Yeah, Splendour in the Grass, which is a big festival where we had a stall for five days and, you know, we're having only volunteers, having all the wristbands even to make sure that we fit within the boundary of that festival, that's only going to give certain amount for wrist band and making sure that the stall is having people there the whole time, um, yeah organizing the look of things, as well. How you're presenting everything, um, and participating at events as well. So, all of that, it’s not like a—yeah, it’s not a clear fixed thing, but every event, we did get together as a team with the volunteers that were available at time, and um, organize things and using online tools as well. Like, Google Docs and Google Calendar and… I guess we’re using Outlook as for the emails, but there was a fair bit of things through Google as well.

Interviewer:Mhm. And then you mentioned, um, for Activ8 for the Ocean, um, before pre—uh, designing the presentations, you spoke with the Byron Council, to understand more about the recycling, was that, um, were you… were you and like the Council—like, Positive Change and the Council, um, communicating quite a bit in terms of like, different initiatives?

Interviewee:Yes, um, luckily Kate Akkerman, who used to be a Coordinator with Positive Change for Marine Life for a few months, six months, I think… she started working for Council. Um… but even before she started working for Council, actually she was still helping out with us but new people here cause she had done it before, so that kind of transition was good. She had made connection passing on those connections to me, because I was new and not from here, um, and so I guess that was kind of an ongoing process for a while. I feel like we maybe didn't have that, um, it wasn't as receptive as we would've liked to, um, the interest of Council to collaborate or be a part of things. But over time, it became a thing where it was kind of together, so a few projects… like, um, a few installations here on the boardwalk on the—in front of the beach, um, have been designed with the help of Positive Change for Marine Life and based on what was found on the beach cleanups, and so, this sort of collaboration opened the door to more and more and more. And then, once you're in touch with them, it's such a small community that, um, yeah we just asked if they wanted to go to places and do things with us. For that specific Activ8 program, I believe that we were working altogether because we even had the waste management people that came at a meeting that we had with the teacher and the administration to try to figure out ways of implementing recycling systems that would be better in the school. So it was not only involving with the students, it was also in the—in the background to make things change and Council was involved with that, trying to provide the bins that were necessary and it was really into the logistics. But then again, um, the Byron Shire applies for grants on their end, and... and sometimes they include us, or Positive Change for Marine Life, a local organization of movement as part of their grant. And they invite us at the events as well, so it's kind of in two way thing.

Interviewer:Nice. I didn't—I had no idea about the signs at the boardwalk that you, as Positive Change, yeah, contributed to that, that’s awesome. That’s so cool. Um, how—with these campaigns and workshops, how does Positive Change gauge success or measure success?

Interviewee:Hm… well, I guess the engagement is the—is the goal. Of course, no… having a lesser and lesser amount of rubbish that ends up on the beach and the ocean is the goal, obviously. But, um, to reach that, it’s the community engagement, so it's from my vision, um, the biggest the amount of people we can reach and that will engage with the topic in a positive way and not in something that is—it is sad, and it is—it can be very depressing, but we know that that's the sort of feeling that's a bit paralyzing. So, engaging with people in a positive way, and bringing about education and every time you talk to someone and they say “hi, I didn't know that. I didn't know that coffee cups were not recyclable, I didn't know that they had plastic in them” or, “I didn't know that, um, you know only 9% of recyclable are actually recycled.” All these little facts or, “I didn't know that cigarette butts were not biodegradable.” These—I feel like these are the outcomes that we measure on a daily basis and that keep things moving, in and on paper, obviously, making a report that shows exactly what has been found on the database, based on years fortnightly data collection, submitting that to Council and having that being used to apply for a grant on their behalf and having that succeed and become a Butt Free Byron Shire campaign, for example. That's obviously an outcome that is definitely, probably, meaning something.

Interviewer:And implementing the recycling at the high school.

Interviewee:Which didn't actually work!

Interviewer:Oh it didn’t?

Interviewee:(Laughs) No.

Interviewer:Oh?

Interviewee:Sadly, yeah, only paper, um, but yeah.

Interviewer:Do you know why it didn't work?

Interviewee:Um…. because it's institutional, and they have a lot of excuses that I don't think are really good. (Laughs) Like, for example, that's giving more work to the cleaner, because they have to empty more than one bin, and they pay for the containers that are on their property to be emptied and having a recycling and a landfill bin are actually more money and—but we worked out all the ways that this would be a benefit in terms of money, because, when you recycle, you have less landfill, and the landfill is, um… yeah, it could be managed in the way that they know how—they have done… what's the word… um…. I forgot, but when you count how much is, not a survey, but in the… an audit of what's in the bin.

Interviewer:Or like inventory?

Interviewee:Yeah.

Interviewer:Yeah.

Interviewee:Um, they knew that they could manage to have, you know, a proportion of—and the Council offered to have bins for free, it’s just their collection—their bin collection, whatever, will only have once a week, so they would had to have those wheely bins instead of a container. But it was changing the whole structure that the cleaner were dealing with things, and—but we were working on that as well where the students would have been involved with. And they had implemented a new structure, but only for paper, so all classrooms now have a cardboard box with paper, uh, recycling, and the students are responsible. We have rosters and… so that has happened but, obviously, with plastic that would have been better, as we know, um… yeah. So, that’s still a work in progress.

Interviewer:Yeah, and when you guys were, um, you as a team, were kind of brainstorming all these possible outcomes, how long was making this plan before like kind of presenting it to them?

Interviewee:Uh, we were working with them, with a teacher that was really engaged and with Council and the school, but, I took… we did about six presentations six weeks in a row.

Interviewer:Okay.

Interviewee:And throughout that, the students were coming up with what they wanted to do. They ended up creating a group within the school called, Positive Change for Byron High and that group still exists nowadays but it's just every year that come to the years seven, eight, nine. They have people that are interested in joining that group, um, so the ones that I worked with are now in year eleven, twelve, um… so they're not necessarily doing so much anymore, because they’re too busy. But um, yeah. So that—that’s outcome, you know, in a way. But, in terms of how long it took, it’s still ongoing, obviously, um, but it was about six weeks of presentation and then another six weeks of them trying to engage with the principal, with the cleaners, with the people of the canteen to reduce plastic.

Interviewer:Cool. What source of… so what sorts of resources or materials did you use during an event or a workshop? Like, either as guidelines or references for the public to see.

Interviewee:Hm… flyers, you mean?

Interviewer:Um… no, like, during an event or a workshop, were there any specific materials or resources you were providing or like, showing, um, during them?

Interviewee:Um, yeah. I guess for the education—oh, well, for the beach cleanup we had a big bucket, like, not huge, but a bucket that was transparent with a lid on it, where we were putting all the cigarette butts.

Interviewer:Okay. The ones that you guys were collecting?

Interviewee:Yeah. So we were able to tell people that all these cigarette butts came from the beach, from the 200 meter beach cleanup that we were doing fortnightly, which is not a big area of the beach. So that was definitely something people were shocked to see… um. We had that, we… overtime as well, ended up creating those bottles—glass bottles, so it's transparent, of micro plastic that were also found on the beach, and then some items like the… here there's the little sushi, um, plastic fish that have soy sauce in them for the sushi. So we find that every beach cleanup, those little red lids that go on top, so we would put that in the container where they’re all in there and then then that looks like more shocking, obviously. People will see how the impact of every single person that pay action to the little tiny lid can make a difference. Um… straws, cutleries, so all these things we would put in things separately. I would have a box, as well, um, people know around here that Seven Mile Beach is like a really kind of secluded beach, where there's no tourists and… um, but we did beach cleanups there and had so much micro-plastic and so many things, um, Styrofoam, so we’d leave a box open and say, “hey, this was taken at that beach” and that's shocking because people are like, “oh, here it makes sense. At Main Beach there's tourists, and there’s tourists trashing the beach”. But, then the other one allows us to get into the topic that, no, it’s washed from the ocean on the beach. Um… and, yeah, we need to take responsibility for those ones well.

Interviewer:Absolutely.

Interviewee:Um… in terms of what else material, well branding, like we would have the logo, uh, eventually we bought a tent that had the logo and all the branding that you saw the event, but we didn't have it in the beginning, um, we’d have only a table… with the waiver that people would sign, the gloves, the bags and the thing to pick up the rubbish. Um… we would have the blue tarp, where we’d put the rubbish on to do the data sorting and then the sheet from Tangora Blue with all the sorting listed, yeah, and cameras to take photos of people and be able to promote that on social media, although that was not my strength, um…

Interviewer:Would this table will be at Apex Park with like, the lid of the cigarette—the thing of the cigarette butts?

Interviewee:Yeah.

Interviewer:Stuff like that?

Interviewee:Yeah?

Interviewer:Okay, for the public to see?

Interviewee:Yeah, while we were doing a beach cleanup. Yeah, and always wearing a T-shirt also, that makes people ask questions, um, with the logo… and we had an A-frame sign. That's probably actually what would get people’s attention the most, like a wooden A-frame that was solid, so it doesn't blow in the wind. And it was written, “Beach Cleanup ongoing now” or, “Beach Cleanup up today” or something and on the other side we could write with a chalk, what we wanted on it, like, the key finding of the day. So people that were looking at us sorting afterwards could look, “ah, that’s the beach cleanup that just happened”. And, in terms of school, I would bring reusable items, so reusable water bottles, reusable straws, cutlery, bags, and show the example, when Council came in, she had a little game, with actual things that are to be recycled or not, and batteries, and you know, electronics, and food waste, and making with three bins of different colors, which matches the color around here and asking the students to say where they would put what and then give them a little prize, um, yeah. So that's the sort of things that happened with the school, the school there… there was a presentation. We didn't make those boxes, I think now they've changed them, but, the way of engaging with the idea of recycling, we did find cardboard boxes that everyone was responsible to bring cardboard boxes, and then we painted the logo of recycling on the cardboard boxes altogether for the people to be able to put the recycling in the classroom, because the school wouldn't be quick enough to make changes. And we wanted them to have a feeling of what it is to actually take action on it, um, so we did that, um… and that was put in all the classrooms so people could start recycling. Um…

Interviewer:Did the kids enjoy that?

Interviewee:Yeah, I think so. Like, of course they’re high school students and they love finding excuses not to go to their class as well, so we could feel that, that they were definitely enjoying this time that was feeling a bit like… they didn't have too much effort to put in. Um, but it's a matter of keeping the momentum of the plastic and that's why starting with the facts and how critical the situation is like, I still see students on the street sometimes that I was like, “hey, how are you, like that was so shocking” or like, another one that came the other day and said, “you know, like, that's how… the—the facts were so hard and that's what made me take action, because I was just really shocked” and I generally try to stay on the positive side, but when you tell students that plastic have only been around for 70 years, and all the harm that it has done and how it's planned to be increase in terms of production, they’re shocked. And that makes them feel like they want to stop it and do something about it, so, I guess, um, yeah I don’t know why I was saying that. (Laughs)

Interviewer:No, thank you, yeah that was good. Um… when you were talking about, like, I was just thinking about our past conversations, um, this past weekend with like, a Phase 1 and Phase 2 and stuff like that of like these reports… was that ever a thing here in Byron, implementing Phase 2? Because you just mentioned, um, the sushi soy sauce little packets, like, did you ever go to like let's say, like Street Sushi, because they're next to the beach? Or like, yeah, did you ever go to the businesses for Phase 2 to kind of like see the source, and like educate and stuff like that?

Interviewee:Yeah, actually, it's always been on the plan, like of doing it, um, what—it happened for the straws, for example, so I wasn’t coordinating at that time anymore.

Interviewer:For the Don’t Be A Sucker?

Interviewee:Yeah, that's when I started kind of being too busy and that was handed to actually Zoe, I think. Um… for that one… uh, oh, we had the pocket ashtrays, I was a lot on the cigarette butt stuff, so the pocket ashtray, we did go into businesses to ask if they would have the pocket ashtrays, we had a competition as well, for cigarette butts once, where we had jars with cigarette butts, that I had counted them one by one and asking businesses if they would have that there on their counter for people to guess, and there was a prize, to guess how many cigarette butts were in there, found on the beach here, and with a little flyer to explain what was the problem with that. Um, so the Information Centre had that for a while, um, here in Byron, so that was good.

Interviewer:What Information Centre?

Interviewee:The Info Centre, it’s in front of the Byron Community Centre.

Interviewer:The… is it Environmental Centre?

Interviewee:Between The Rails… I don't know, I think it might have changed the name but it was—that used to be the Info Centre.

Interviewer:Like the… it’s between Rails and like that park, that little shack thingy?

Interviewee:Yeah.

Interviewer:Yeah, the Environmental Centre.

Interviewee:Oh, it has changed now.

Interviewer:Yeah, it’s called the Environmental Centre.

Interviewee:That’s good, huh, perfect. (Laughs)

Interviewer:Yeah.

Interviewee:Um…. Yeah, I guess that's an agreement that they did with the community because they used to have a little house, that's really out of topic, but, little house in the middle of the park, and then they decided to like renovate the park, and I think the people that had built this little house were really angry. So they probably wanted to have something and they probably got that building to be the Environmental Centre, which is great.

Interviewer:Yeah, that’s awesome.

Interviewee:Yep, um, I'm just guessing here, though. Um… but I heard that there was that like, movement happening with Council in this group, um, that were like locals, like, from like the old days, so they've seen the whole change and how Byron has been attacked by fourty years in tourists and, um, but yeah basically, that was an Info Centre, and there was that cigarette butt competition, and um… your question was about the Phase 2, so that's the sort of thing that I got engaged with. Pocket ashtray, um, engaging with the businesses for that and then the Don’t Be A Sucker is like a campaign came in, um, and we were on the Ban the Bag petition as well, so we did engage with a lot of local people for the Ban the Bag for that petition, as well. That was given to the Shire, which is something that has gone through the states because it's not only the  Byron Shire that do the ban, but what was the vote, like put it in the bill, so there's all this political stuff, as well. But like, I showed up to like, a bill that was being passed as well, to make the plastic bag ban happen on a voluntary basis in Byron, but that wouldn’t mean that the Shire would provide support to businesses to transition. So that was also campaign—that was, yeah, engaging with, yeah, I guess… local people, not only businesses. But in terms of those sushi ones, specifically, no. Maybe the girls have done it afterwards, um, another one that we would have are ice cream little spoons, but then overtime, I did see most of them transition to wooden spoons. So it's hard to tell if it's because of us, or us as a part of, because at the same time, Plastic Free Byron was born, and they were doing that. So that's also a reason why we kind of didn't want to… that's one thing that happens a lot. Like, organization are appearing everywhere and sometimes there’s a little bit of… like a, “don't cross my path” sort of energy in the air. (Laughs) And obviously we want to collaborate but people are trying to fund their activities somehow, so keeping that clear is generally also good, so, I think when we saw that they were taking that on, we just left it with them, because it made really a lot of sense with their own… I guess Plastic Free Byron plan, and yeah. So they were doing that while we were doing the rest of the stuff.

Interviewer:That's interesting. How did you know that they were doing that? Just—

Interviewee:No, we did have a meeting with um, an organization called Boomerang Alliance, which is…

Interviewer:The kind of bags thing, right?

Interviewee:No, that’s Boomerang Bag.

Interviewer:Oh!

Interviewee:That’s different.

Interviewer:Okay.

Interviewee:Yeah, Boomerang Alliance is like an umbrella organization that brought together a whole heap of organization in Australia. I don't actually know what they're up to at the moment, um… but the—I know that when we went to the meeting, it was big, um, what they were achieving and they were working a lot on putting pressure for the Return and Earn, um, which are the glass and plastic bottle machine that you put the.. I mean, the machine that you put the glass and plastic bottles in and get ten cents back. That wasn't a thing in Australia yet even though around the world that already existed for a long time. Anyway, so they were pushing hard for that and then they came here and we had a meeting with Plastic Free Byron team, which were about nine people I think, and… great people with a lot of background and a lot of stuff, passionate. And with us, Positive Change team, and then the goal was to work on something altogether but, it somehow didn't happen altogether, because I think… um, yeah, they just, they focused on businesses and engaging with businesses, which they still do and do really well, um, yeah, they've managed to have lots of businesses on board that quit plastic and they give them like a sign that they can put in their door and they list them on the website, so if you can see all the business that’s actually making a difference and that's really good.

Interviewer:Yeah, cool.

Interviewee:Yeah, so because they were focusing on that, we focused on cigarette butts and, yeah, and the pocket ashtrays and things that were less a part of what businesses could do.

Interviewer:Yeah, that makes a lot more sense now. We just talked about so many good things, I don't even know what’s my next question!

Interviewee:(Laughs)

Interviewer:Um… I guess we already talked about the process of building everything… I think it's—yeah, defining what's next, right? That’s like the process of like building new campaigns, kind of like the Don't Be A Sucker, that was like the next thing.

Interviewee:Yeah, and I have to say that Karl came up with all of these things, like I was literally just mostly coordinating, like most of these things Karl came up with so, I guess he maybe… yeah, had a plan and he would explain that plan to me, and I would implement it somehow with his help, so, yeah… I just wasn’t necessarily the one putting a plan down, but we would end up having, you know, flyers for the cigarette butt competition thing, or we would end up having the material that we needed. Yeah, it could be more structured, but I wonder sometimes if structuring it more would just be a waste of time, less action.

Interviewer:Right, right. Absolutely. And now you're no longer the coordinator, right? Are you just a volunteer?

Interviewee:Yeah, I volunteer when I can. I love Positive Change for Marine Life with all my heart. Yeah, I really admire with Karl does and how much time and passion he dedicates into it—I actually wish he did less because he needs to take care of himself, too. Um… but, yeah I can't volunteer as much as I used to because I'm doing a PhD full-time and I have to work as well because I don't have a full-time scholarship, only a part-time one, so I work part-time now and volunteer maybe… three, four, five times a year at specific events.

Interviewer:Nice, and my last question that kind of goes with that, um, in what ways are you continuing to pursue your passion with protecting the ocean?

Interviewee:I now work as a COO for the Sea Bin Foundation, which is the not-for-profit side of the Sea Bin Project, which is a company that sells rubbish or trash cans… or “rubbish bins” that have a pump underneath and that they act like a pool skimmer and they track the rubbish that's floating at surface, mostly marinas, ports, and harbors. Um… so I run the foundation, which is the education, science, committee engagement side of things, so applying for grants and working with businesses and corporates to have sea bins in the water. But, not only that, having the launch of the sea bin, bringing the community together, the media, and then having data collection, which feeds the science side of things and education side of thing, which is engagement with community, but also being in the schools and doing STEM lessons and presentation with the technology. So that's what I'm doing with my work which is definitely feel—like, feeling good as in how I can contribute to healthier oceans still. I'm really passionate about it, I talk about it all the time with everybody, that's for sure. I have a lifestyle that it’s definitely, completely focused on how I can always benefit the ocean. That program that we're doing with the Sea Bin Foundation at the moment with Byron High and the Positive Change for Byron High team that are still am existing, we’re working with them to create an event on—it’s full of workshops and they're not all necessary obviously linked to the ocean or plastic, like for example there's gonna be tree planting, but we're gonna talk and that's part of the program… for them to see the link of tree planting with the ocean and include that in a presentation within the workshop for all the participants of the workshop to see the connection, because everything is so interconnected and this is something that I really want to… to bring into any activity that happens with the Sea Bin Foundation. The ocean can always be the reason why we do things for good, no matter in what direction we take those things for good, whether it's inland, whether it's within the way we talk to people or engage with each other… everything end up having an impact on the ocean somehow and I think we can dig deeper and deeper and deeper into this kind of critical thinking to benefit the oceans, yeah.

Interviewer:Ugh, that’s amazing! I love that and you can definitely see your passion and drive and kind of… yeah, where it’s taken you with your own personal education and your degree. but also like try to make an impact in Byron and like the Council and stuff like that, so it’s amazing.

Interviewee:Yeah.

Interviewer:Wow, thank you so much.

Interviewee:I have a lot of, yeah a lot of passion for the ocean.

Interviewer:Absolutely. That's why we’re here.

Interviewee:Yeah, yeah.

Interviewer:To have these conversations.

Interviewee:And that's why we’re here as in… we actually came from the ocean.

Interviewer:Yes!

Interviewee:You know? So, I think it works in all directions.

Interviewer:You need to give back the respect that it gives.

Interviewee:Yeah.

Interviewer:Absolutely. Thank you so much.

Interviewee:Thank you.

Interviewer:This was amazing.