There are incredible changes happening in this period of time that will be important for the history of the human race, Queensland Government Minister Leeanne Enoch told The Circular Economy: it’s our future forum in Brisbane yesterday.
As Minister for Environment and the Great Barrier Reef, Minister for Science and Minister for the Arts, Ms Enoch said there are certain actions we have to take right now in the way we utilise materials, how we tackle climate change, and use energy and resources in everyday life.
“When I visited Wujal Wujal community in far north Queensland after recent weather events, the elders said there are no stories passed down the generations who have lived there to deal with rapid change in climate,” Ms Enoch said.
“We are a speck in time. There have been 3000 generations of people in this place, which is home to great natural gifts like the Great Barrier Reef and Daintree rainforests. But what is happening to our climate is new.
Minister Leeanne Enoch (top left), Uli Becker (bottom left), at The Circular Economy forum and (bottom right) Textile Beat’s Jane Milburn with Blocktexx co-founder Graham Ross.
“We have got to do bold things and step into a space not occupied before. How we engage in the circular economy involves investing in new ways. The Queensland Government is providing $100 million encouraging new industries that are part of big picture work in the waste economy.
“How government, industry and the community respond at this speck in time will be important for our future. We need to take action together to change the way we think about resources and create an environment for new businesses to use and reuse.”
Queensland is hosting the first-ever Climate Week from 2-8 June 2019, which includes climate leadership training with Al Gore and the Climate Reality Project.
Key speaker at yesterday’s forum was Climate Reality leader Uli Becker who spoke about industries and business models that need to be challenged – including fossil fuels, healthcare and big pharma, industrial agriculture, fashion and sportswear.
Other speakers were Karen Greaves from Lendlease which is developing the Yarrabilba project in Logan and Graham Ross from Blocktexx which is pioneering textile recycling technology.
The forum was organised by CitySmart, The University of Queensland and the Queensland Government and is part of the ongoing process of discovering how we transition to the circular model and think differently about resources, materials and waste.
Proud to know the Minister Enoch as an Australian Rural Leadership Program colleague, and be part of the upcoming Climate Reality Leadership Training in June.