Anja Light
(also see my my detailed biography)
Date of Birth: 18th September 1967, Sweden.
Australia 1971 - 2007
• 1986 – 2007 Rainforest Information Centre (RIC) (www.rainforestinfo.org.au) Roles include: Campaigner, Director, Project Manager, Treasurer, Deep Ecology workshop facilitator.
• 1988 Graduated from University of South East Queensland: Dip. Creative Arts
• 1992 established RIC Gold Coast, organised demonstrations, marches and vigils – declared by Gold Coast Bulletin newspaper as one of 100 most ‘notable’ people in its 100 year history.
• 1994 Finalist QLD Young Achiever awards, Greens candidate for Currumbin
• Organise ‘Voices for the Forest’ tour with indigenous people from Borneo and Australia. Co-organise ‘Big Bush Bugarup’ tour with indigenous people from PNG.
• 1995 Greens candidate for Currumbin, established RIC Canberra working out of the TWS office. Assist in organising Tibet environment conference in Sydney with special guest speaker, HH The Dalai Lama.
• 1996 Greens candidate for McPherson (Gold Coast) Federal election
• 2004 Greens candidate for Currumbin, State election
• 2005 Greens candidate for local by-election (Currumbin).
• 2006 Greens candidate for the Burdekin, State Election. Complete Cert III in Education Support at TAFE, establish permaculture garden project in local school winning Green and Healthy school award for north QLD.
Malaysia 1986 – 1991
• Participated in international NGO conference on tropical forest destruction and Friends of the Earth conference in Penang 1986 - join the RIC.
• Lived with nomadic Penan tribe in Sarawak bringing their message to stop logging to the outside world.
• 1991 organised international non-violent direct action against logging gaining extensive international media coverage, charged with ‘criminal trespass with intention to annoy’, spending 3 months in jail and 6 weeks in court with Angie Zelter (UK Peace activist and recipient of Right Livelihood award).
Japan 1989 - 2007
• Campaigner with RIC on issues including forests, indigenous peoples, peace and anti-nuclear campaigns- invited 25 times over the past 18 years.
• Produced 3 benefit music CDs to raise funds for campaigns and projects.
• Speaker at various conferences and events including the Future Generations Alliance Foundation and NGO forum at the COP3 Kyoto conference. 3 nationwide rainforest roadshows to launch environment action groups.
• Co-founded the Sloth Club in 1999 (www.sloth.gr.jp), linking environmental issues into a lifestyle approach that launched the candlenight campaign in 2003. Within 3 years 7 million people in Japan participate in ‘candlenight’.
• Selected as one of 100 global ‘Earth Lovers’ in 2005 (along with Australians Bill Mollison and Jill Jordan) as speaker/performer at World Expo in Nagoya; invited to return for one year anniversary event in 2006.
• Nov 2006 to Jan 2007 Speaker/performer on the GNH (Gross National Happiness) tour.
Ecuador 1998 – 2007
• Project Manager with RIC.
• Alerted Japanese environment movement to the Junin copper mine issue, resulting in extensive support to local communities including establishing organic fair trade and eco/cultural tourism.
• 1999 Established the Cotacachi Ecology Centre coordinating over 100 international volunteers to project sites.
• 2000 Organised Expo Cotacachi (which continues every 2 years) with support from indigenous Mayor Auki Tituana (leading South American proponent of participatory democracy), involving 40 Ecuadorean NGOs showcasing alternative development initiatives.
• Raised funds to establish the 35 ha. ‘El Milagro’ cloud forest reserve modelling sustainable lifestyle.
Other Highlights
1992 Young Greens award in Sweden, tour organised by Finnish Greens, rainforest roadshow in Poland, New Zealand.
1992 Organise actions at the G7 summit in Germany, extensive international media coverage.
1995 – 1998 as RIC project manager raise funds from AusAID for RIC projects in India, Ecuador and PNG. Visit PNG to assess eco-forestry project
1998 Join Trident Ploughshares actions in Scotland to uphold international law by dismantling nuclear weapons.
Languages: Spanish, Japanese, basic Malaysian.