Home - Sutherland Shire Environment Centre

The Sutherland
to Cronulla Active Transport link

Help us stop the SCATL backpeddle!

2021 Sustainability Award

Supporting and encouraging businesses that care for our environment – the Sutherland Shire Local Business Awards. Nominations open 24 May.

Coal mining underneath Woronora Reservoir - our drinking water

10,700 people signed our hard copy petition asking the NSW government to stop this mining

Sunny Shire

Sunny Shire provide information about solar energy, batteries, efficiency, electric vehicles and more.

First National Park

The Royal National Park is not only a beautiful natural area. It is home to a diverse range of flora and fauna; it has outstanding geological features and spectacular scenery. Sutherland Shire Environment Centre is campaigning to have ecological values and unique history of the Royal recognised through UNESCO World Heritage Listing.

SO Shire & Plastic Free Sutherland Shire

SO Shire – working to protect our natural environment, including the beautiful waterways that surround our Shire.

The overall aim is to protect and enhance the natural environment by educating the public, mobilising volunteers, advising and promoting environmentally sustainable businesses within the Sutherland Shire.

Our Campaigns

Events

Late Sutherland based environmental activist, Bill Ryan, protests for climate action with young boy

Bill Ryan Activism Award

In honour of Bill Ryan who passed away in December 2019, Sutherland Shire Environment Centre has created an Activism Award in order to recognise peaceful environmental activism. Bill Ryan’s civility, spirit, and determination have been an inspiration to so many. His long history of engaging in non-violent, direct action was centred in his conviction that civil disobedience and the freedom to protest should be an essential feature of democratic society.

This award has been established in Bill Ryan’s name as a tribute to a much loved and remarkable man and to honour those who share his spirit of non-violent direct action for the benefit of the environment.

Fire Management in the Royal National Park

28 July – free online zoom presentation. All welcome. We’re so lucky to be surrounded by beautiful bushland in the Shire, but care is needed to manage it. This online zoom presentation hosted by the National Parks Association Southern Sydney branch will feature two speakers: Inspector Scott Deller, the Operational Response Co-ordinator for the NSW Rural Fire Service; and a representative from the National Parks and Wildlife Service. The presentation will cover the importance of environmental assessments and management of endangered flora and fauna when doing controlled burns.

Ask Optus to Commit to 100% Renewable Electricity by 2020: Online Event

26 July – Join us online via Zoom. Emails can quickly be forgotten, deleted or go to the junk folder, but imagine how much impact and power a BIG pile of personalised handwritten letters will have sitting on the Optus CEO’s desk. Let’s put more pressure on Optus to join the likes of Telstra, Coles and Aldi and publicly commit to powering 100% of their business operations with renewable electricity by 2030.

About Sutherland Shire Environment Centre

We are an independent, not-for-profit, community organisation actively involved in a wide range of projects aimed at maintaining the natural beauty and character of our Shire, and surrounding waterways and parks. We promote sustainability, support environmental education, and welcome community involvement to help us address environmental issues that affect the Shire and its bioregions.

A current focus is advocating for koala and wildlife corridors around the Shire. Another campaign seeks to protect our water supply at Woronora: our recent petition called for the mining underneath our reservoir to be stopped. Through the SO Shire group we act to halt the increasing amount of pollution from plastic and microplastics that is washing up around our beaches and waterways.

Sutherland Shire Environment Centre supports a number of other fantastic environmental initiatives, in addition to these campaigns. If you are interested in living more sustainably at home, or at work, we may be able to help. Our Sunny Shire, SO Shire, and Plastic Free Sutherland Shire groups liaise with a number of local organisations, schools and businesses, and can offer advice about solar energy, batteries, and sustainable practices.

We acknowledge the Traditional Custodians of this Land, the Dharawal and Gandangara peoples, who have cared and continue to care for country. We recognise that Aboriginal Sovereignty has never been ceded. It is our goal to build restorative relations between peoples, and we pay our respect to their elders – past, present, and emerging.

The Sutherlandto Cronulla Active Transport link