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Core Group

The downshifting downunder core team include:

David Wyatt began downshifting around 1998 when he was CEO of a biotechnology company that he co-founded. His professional background had been in medical research and academia coupled with business entrepreneurship. He is currently chairman of the ASX listed banana paper company (Papyrus) and serves on a number of other boards. He is also an Adjunct Professor at QUT and the UQ Business School. David is also actively involved in an ecovillage near the Gold Coast where he plans to live in 2006. He initiated Downshifting Downunder in early 2005 as a practical step towards facilitating a more sustainable world.

Clive Hamilton is Executive Director of The Australia Institute, a prominent public-interest think tank which he founded in 1994. Trained as an economist, he previously held various positions at universities and in the Australian public service.

In 2003, The Australia Institute published a ground-beaking study of the downshifting phenomenon in Australia and followed-up with a paper examining the phenomenon in more depth in 2004. These papers brought the term ‘downshifting’ to Australia and prompted a widespread and continuing public debate about what makes life worthwhile.

Clive has published on a wide range of issues including measures of wellbeing, climate change policy and environmental economics. His latest book, Growth Fetish, was published by Allen & Unwin in 2003 and his next, entitled Affluenza (co-authored with Richard Denniss) is due to appear in June 2005.

Mitra Ardron: Mitra is the co-convenor with David, and is looking after the web site. He downshifted from San Francisco to Byron Bay in 1996. His company Natural Innovation provides support and consulting to businesses involved in sustainability and natural products.

He co-founded GreenNet and the Association for Progressive Communications and coordinates the Byron Sustainable Ventures Network. He maintains a blog on sustainability, and is collaborating with Jenni Cargill on a book called Green Wealth.

Christie Breakspeare: Christie is the Managing Director of Christie Breakspear and Associates Pty Ltd a consultancy, which specialises in discrimination and harassment law, workplace mediation, diversity management and training and policy development. Christie, a former academic and researcher (industrial relations), is the author of a number of publications including: 'From Juggling to Managing: Work and Family Policies in Three Australian Organisations' (1998) and with Clive Hamilton 'Getting a Life: Understanding the downshifting phenomenon in Australia'(2004). Christie is the main organiser for the conference.

Posted by mitra at March 26, 2005 1:28 PM

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