Lucky Last – it’s time to nominate for the ABC CARBON 50

It’s that time of the year again. We haven’t forgotten to tell you all and invite nominations for the ABC CARBON 50. Maybe not quite as well established at the Time Magazine’s 100 Most Influential in the world, but we made our mark last year with 50 very special people. To nominate just reply to this abc carbon express email with the name or names of who you would like to put forward.   Just give us a very short description of who they are and why you think they deserve to be on the ABC CARBON 50 list. Helping us with the final 50 selection this year will be Connection Research and an independent well-qualified judge.

Remember last year? Cate Blanchett topped the list of the 50 most influential people in Australia who are committed to the environment, the planet and for the future of life on earth. They are advocates for climate change awareness and action at home and abroad, as well as campaigners for clean energy and energy efficiency. Some are very well known. Some are new discoveries.

The list was compiled by ABC CARBON from nominations received: 

1. Cate Blanchett – international actress and Oscar winner, climate change campaigner, face/voice of ACF’s campaign, Who on Earth Cares?, supporter of Earth Hour, featured speaker at the World Business Summit on Climate Change, Copenhagen last month (the full text of her brilliant speech follows this list); co-artistic director (with husband Andrew) of the Sydney Theatre Company which is embarking on a plan to produce all its own energy (through solar panels on the roof); personally committed to manage her own carbon footprint through her travels and in her home.

When asked why she cared about climate change, here’s her answer (on the Who on earth cares? website):

“I care about climate change because of our children. I want to safeguard their future. It is a situation that affects each and every one of us, in this country and around the world. It is an inescapable problem. A common link we share. It is a crisis that provides us with an opportunity to change for the better. To change the way we consume, the way we think and the way we behave. By assuming responsibility, we protect, and respect, the generations behind us”.

1. Tim Flannery – palaeontologist, Chairman of the Copenhagen Council, author of The Weather Makers, and 2007 Australian of the Year.
2. Ian Lowe – Emeritus Professor of Science, Technology and Society at Griffith University, President of the Australian Conservation Foundation, author Living in the Greenhouse 1989 and Living in the Hothouse 2005.
3. Nick Rowley – Director of Kinesis and Strategic Director of the Copenhagen Climate Council and former advisor to Tony Blair (UK Government) and Bob Carr (NSW Government).
4. David Mills – chief scientific officer and founder of Ausra, the Australian solar thermal producer.
5. Ann Henderson-Sellers -  ARC Professorial Research Fellow, Climate Change Risk Research, Macquarie University, Sydney and former Director of the World Climate Programme.
6. Jean Palutikof – Director of Australia’s National Climate Change Adaptation Research Facility at Griffith University. Prior to joining the UK Met Office, she was Professor in the School of Environmental Sciences and Director of the Climatic Research Unit at the University of East Anglia, UK.
7. Peter Doherty – author of A Light History of Hot Air, Nobel Prize winner for Physiology and Medicine in 1996 and Australian of the Year in 1997.
8. Penny Sackett – Australia’s Chief Scientist.
9. Mara Bun – CEO of Green Cross Australia.
10. Greg Bourne – CEO of WWF Australia, former executive with BP and former advisor to Tony Blair.
11. Ove Hoegh Guldberg – Marine Science Professor at University of Queensland and lead author of Science Journal research article on climate change impacts on the Great Barrier Reef.
12. Don Henry – CEO of the Australian Conservation Foundation.
13. Ross Garnaut – economist, author of the Garnaut Review and diplomat.
14. David Karoly – climatologist, climate change researcher, Federation Fellow at University of Melbourne.
15. Matthew Warren – CEO of the Clean Energy Council, formerly Environment Writer with The Australian.
16. Rupert Posner – Director of The Climate Group.
17. Hugh Possingham – WWF Governor and ARC Federation Fellow, University of Queensland.
18. Colman Ridge – founder and organiser of Greenfest.
19. Anne Maree Huxley – CEO & Founder of Models of Success and Sustainability (MOSS).
20. Dave Sag – Founder & Executive Director of Carbon Planet.
21. Rob Cawthorne – Managing Director of the Carbon Reduction Institute.
22. Peter Cosier – Director of the Wentworth Group.
23. Michael Ottaviano – CEO of Carnegie Corporation, wave energy pioneers.
24. Jeff Harding – Chairman of Ceramic Fuels, former CEO of Pacific Hydro.
25. Robert Quirk – advocate and lecturer in sustainable agriculture, foundation chair of the Better Sugar Cane Initiative (BSI), the global round table for sugar  formed by WWF and IFC to develop practices to reduce the impacts of sugar cane growing.
26. John Connor – CEO of The Climate Institute.
27. Pep Canadell – Executive Director of the Global Carbon Project (GCP), and scientist with CSIRO Marine and Atmospheric Research.
28. Freddy Sharpe – CEO of Climate Friendly.
29. Sara Gipton – CEO of Greenfleet.
30. Janis Birkeland – Professor of Architecture, Queensland University of Technology, urban designer, and author of Design for Sustainability.
31. Graeme Pearman – consultant, former chief of CSIRO Atmospheric Research &  Research Fellow in Sustainability Science at Monash University.
32. Larissa Brown – Founder and Executive Director of the Centre for Sustainability Leadership and Young environmentalist of the year 2008 in the Banksia Awards.
33. Megan Wheatley – Business Development Manager, Suzlon Energy, formerly Head of Policy for the UK Business Council for Sustainable Energy.
34. Richard Cassels – Director Climate Leadership, archaeologist & former GM of Queensland Museum.
35. Michael Raupach – co-Chair of the Global Carbon Project, and CSIRO Marine and Atmospheric Research scientist.
36. Sidonie Carpenter – President of Green Roofs.
37. Fiona Wain – CEO of Environment Business Australia.
38. Imogen Zethoven – with the Pew Environment Group & Wilderness Society, campaigner for the Great Barrier Reef and formerly undertook great work with WWF Australia.
39. Martin Loosemore – is Principal Consultant Risk Management for Synergy Management Consulting Group, who consulted on  construction of the Beijing 2008 Olympic facilities, the Three Gorges Dam in China and now for the London 2012 Olympics; co-author (with Bede Boyle) of Climate Change and Corporate Social Responsibility.
40. David Baggs – founder, EcoSpecifier, Technical Director & Principal Consultant Chartered Architect, and UNAA Environment Day Award Finalist.
41. Paul Gilding – writer, advisor & advocate with 35 years engagement in sustainability, formerly with Greenpeace, he set up Ecos Corporation and Easy Being Green.
42. Jon Dee – founder of Planet Ark and founder of Ban the Bag campaign, to rid Australia of plastic shopping bags.
43. Craig Lovett – Founder of CleanEvent, the Melbourne based international event and venue cleaning management company with sustainable practices.
44. Samantha Graham – National Education Manager of Carbon Systems & Mum!
45. Tom Vassallo – who holds the Delta Chair of Sustainable Energy Development at University of Sydney, consultant to industry and formerly with CSIRO.
46. Romilly Madew, – CEO of Green Building Council.
47. Richard Boele – founder and Managing Director on Banarra, President of Australian Institute of Social & Ethical Accountability , and anti-mining campaigner.
48. Guy Lane – founder of My Clean Sky, carbon offset provider and enthusiast for aviation and the environment.
49. Dee Tipping – environmentalist, campaigner for plastic bag free Byron Shire and fundraising co-ordinator for community and the arts.

Ken Hickson, Director, ABC Carbon; Editor, abc carbon express and Author, “The ABC of Carbon”                           www.abccarbon.com