Karen Ruth Alexander | |
---|---|
Born | |
Alma mater | Monash University |
Occupation | Environmentalist |
Years active | 1988−present |
Known for | Co-founder of Tasmanian Wilderness Society |
Karen Ruth Alexander OAM (born 1948) is an Australian environmentalist who was one of the founding members of the Tasmanian Wilderness Society.
Karen Alexander was born in Melbourne. She studied mathematics at Monash University before studying geology in Tasmania, eventually receiving a Bachelor of Applied Science in Canberra. She was a co-founder of the Melbourne branch of the Tasmanian Wilderness Society, dedicated to campaigning against the proposed Franklin Dam. Bob Brown described her as the "driving force in Melbourne behind turning the Franklin River campaign into a national issue". [1] When the Wilderness Society established itself nationally, Alexander was a co-director.
During 1988, she worked with the United Nations Environment Program, after which she became environment manager for the Australian Conservation Foundation. She later completed her master's degree at the University of Western Australia. Involved in the Australian Greens, she was also president of Bush Heritage Australia from 2000 to 2004. In 2005, she took up her current position in the Victorian National Parks Association. [2] Alexander was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) on 8 June 2015 for "service to conservation and the environment, and to the community." [3]
Franklin-Gordon Wild Rivers is a national park in Tasmania, 117 km west of Hobart. It is named after the two main river systems lying within the bounds of the park - the Franklin River and the Gordon River.
The Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area is a World Heritage Site in Tasmania, Australia. It is one of the largest conservation areas in Australia, covering 15,800 km2, or almost 25% of Tasmania. It is also one of the last expanses of temperate wilderness in the world, and includes the South West Wilderness. In 2014, the Abbott Government proposed de-listing the Tasmanian Wilderness as a World Heritage Site so as to allow the logging of trees within the protected area. This would have been the first time a developed nation has de-listed a site for economic purposes. It was rejected by the World Heritage Committee the same year. In 2016, the Tasmanian government withdrew the bid to allow logging in the Tasmanian Wilderness after a UNESCO report opposed the idea.
Lake Pedder, once a glacial outwash lake, is a man-made impoundment and diversion lake located in the southwest of Tasmania, Australia. In addition to its natural catchment from the Frankland Range, the lake is formed by the 1972 damming of the Serpentine and Huon rivers by the Hydro Electric Commission of Tasmania for the purposes of hydroelectric power generation.
The Franklin Dam or Gordon-below-Franklin Dam project was a proposed dam on the Gordon River in Tasmania, Australia, that was never constructed. The movement that eventually led to the project's cancellation became one of the most significant environmental campaigns in Australian history.
The Wilderness Society (TWS) is an Australian, community-based, not-for-profit non-governmental environmental advocacy organisation. Its vision is to "transform Australia into a society that protects, respects and connects with the natural world that sustains us."
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The Gordon Splits is a notable section of gorges of the Gordon River, located in South West Tasmania, Australia. The once impassable gorges are situated on the lower Gordon River in the Franklin-Gordon Wild Rivers National Park, part of the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area. The splits has also been an important location of focus within the larger environmental campaign for wilderness preservation in South West Tasmania.
Beginning as a conservation movement, the environmental movement in Australia was the first in the world to become a political movement. Australia was home to the world's first Green party.
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