The Picture You in Agriculture team has paired up with Intrepid Landcare to roll our the school’s based program Kreative Koalas (website a work in progress). This exciting new partnership  will allow our Young Farming Champions to broaden their networks and influence through a partnership with Young Sustainability Ambassadors ( website to be launched this week)

Today’s guest blog comes from Megan Rowlatt the CEO of Intrepid Landcare who has a long association with the Young Farming Champions program

A state and national award winner, Megan continues to communicate on a global scale through her creative blogging, writing resources and articles for numerous organisations and publications on youth leadership, nature and conservation, and through personal one-on-one mentorship roles with young people across the world. And while she’s constantly on the road creating change in communities all over Australia, it’s not unusual to see her hiking through our rich and diverse Australian bush, swimming in a secret water hole, or getting her hands dirty pulling weeds and planting trees on an epic Intrepid Landcare adventure with a tribe of other like-minded young people.

This is Megan’s story …….

 

Speaking to crowd-filled rooms, hundreds of people deep about my passion for the environment, the future of the planet, and how young people play a pivotal role in sustainability on a global scale, was something I never would have dreamed possible a few years ago. But today, this is my world.

I work in the environmental conservation space, co-founder of a national organisation in Australia called Intrepid Landcare [link insert: www.intrepidlandcare.org]. We focus on leadership development in young people who have a passion for the environment. It’s my life’s work, my passion, and my purpose.

Intrepid Landcare  Board 

The Intrepid Landcare team  design and deliver leadership programs which inspire and build the capacity of young people to step out into the community and drive change from the grassroots level. It’s environmental conservation meets outdoor adventure, adventure meets purpose, and it’s the most rewarding thing I have ever done in my life.

A late bloomer to the leadership space, my path has been quite a gentle meandering through little trip ups and hidden lessons, I had no idea I was as passionate about the environment as what I am, or what role I wanted to play in the world, or that I was even capable of the things that I am today. But my connection to nature and deep sense of responsibility to look after it, entwined with a series of serendipitous travel and volunteer experiences has guided me to where I am today.

A connection to nature and deep sense of responsibility to look after it, entwined with a series of serendipitous travel and volunteer experiences has Megan to where she is today.

As a support officer working with people in the Landcare movement who genuinely care about the land, in 2008 I had landed my dream job. But I soon noticed a gaping hole where young people just did not exist in the movement, and took on creating opportunities in my own community. The rest, is history.

Megan’s love affair with nature 

It wasn’t until I recognised I was actually a changemaker and started investing in myself [link insert: http://myconservationcollective.com/invest-in-you], that I started to gain real momentum in my impact. And one of those investments was the ‘Art4Agriculture Young Eco Champions’ program. This program really gave me the communication skills and confidence I needed to craft my vision and message for the future. It played a pivotal role in my personal and professional development and I have since gone on to speak at regional, state and national conferences on natural resource management, youth leadership, and conservation. I’ve appeared on local, state and national radio and television programs, been keynote speaker at environmental film festivals, facilitated countless forums and events, and my work in this space has even taken me to Bhutan to join a team of global changemakers discovering different models of sustainable development.

Megan in Bhutan 

All of what I step into aims to raise the bar on the way we speak about sustainability in Australia and on a global scale, and at the forefront of this conversation is young people and the role they play in future of our planet. So it has been critical for me to get the skills down, to be able to communicate in a way that resonates with the diverse audiences I want to reach .

Thank you Megan for sharing your story.  As you can imagine we are looking forward to working with this exciting and inspiring young woman and her tribe of changemakers