Richard Cassels
 

Richard Cassels offers lectures and seminars on the history and future of human sustainability. These can be tailored for audiences from primary school to service organisations to corporate think-tanks.

Some recent testimonials.

"We are at a moment when humanity needs wisdom to understand its history and Richard Cassels is a wise man. He is a rare individual in having been trained as a historian and an archaeologist he has now turned his attention to humankind's next great transition - learning to live within planetary limits. He has given Griffith Business School students an enlightened view of history and opened the sort of perspectives that only a former museum curator can provide."

Malcolm McIntosh, Director, Asia Pacific Centre for Sustainable Enterprise, Griffith University, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.

"Richard Cassels provides a stimulating and eloquent reminder that “those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it”. Richard's presentation Learning from the past: the history and future of human sustainability weaves a number of strands from science, philosophy and religion to illustrate the delusion that the human struggle with “the” environment is a recent phenomenon.  Insights such as “the cunning rise of grasslands aided by humanity” help us to see beyond our anthropocentric blinkers.  A thoroughly informative and entertaining experience for any audience!".

Ian Eskdale, Host Sustainablity Presentations, Queensland Government Department of Environment and Resource Management, Brisbane.

 "Richard Cassels' talks on the history and future of human sustainability provide a compelling insight into humanity's sometimes healthy and sometimes unhealthy relationship with the web of life. In this time of planetary ecological emergency his story-telling approach effectively engages the audience in a greater understanding of our plight".

Richard Sanders, Queensland Director, CASSE (Centre for the Advancement of Steady State Economy)

Richard represents a rare breed of professionals who can readily make connections with ordinary people. 

I have no hesitation in recommending Richard as a highly informative and entertaining speaker, able to adjust his talks to the character of the audience.  Richard demonstrates considerable wisdom in a field which is just emerging.

His presentations are inspiring in terms of content and in terms of style because they recognise that we learn most profoundly from visual representations when accompanied by a narrative focus. The rich imagery has stayed with me both mentally and emotionally.

[Richard is] equipped with an extensive interdisciplinary-based, anthropological and archaeological intellectual background, coupled with a legacy of an operational role as a leader of innovative practice in museums, in terms of sustainability.

Dr. Ngaire Bissett , Senior Lecturer, Griffith University Business School, Brisbane, Australia.

 “Richard Cassels gave a most interesting talk on ‘Life in the Low-carbon World of the Future’… Societies which don’t look after their environments are not sustainable”.

News Bulletin of the Queensland Public Service Retired Officers’ Association, vol. 34, no. 3, August 2011.

Richard is a Director of Climate Leadership, a Governor of W.W.F. Australia and was recently an Honorary Research Fellow at the Queensland Museum in Environmental History and Sustainable Futures. He is a popular public speaker on environmental issues and is particularly passionate about the need for all citizens of the new global villiage to know the environmental history of humankind. He strongly supports the Australian Government's move to price carbon and the need for massive research into clean energies. 

In 2006 he established the seminar series at the Queensland Museum entitled “Pioneering a Sustainable Queensland” in partnership with John Cole of the Queensland Government's Environmental Protection Agency.

In 2007 he convened at the Museum the popular seminar “Climate Change Down Under (see his overview of the seminar at mms://streamingserver.slq.qld.gov.au/video/qm/wmvb/CCDU/ccdu_Cassels.wmv)

In 2008 he convened and directed the Greenfest Speakers Festival at South Bank, Brisbane.

For 25 years he managed museums in New Zealand and Australia. He was the manager responsible for producing Dandiiri Maiwar, the Aboriginal and Torres Strait islanders Cultures Centre at the Queensland Museum in Brisbane. Previously he was a Senior Lecturer in Archaeology at Auckland University, specialising in the environmental impact of prehistoric peoples. He graduated in Prehistoric Archaeology from the University of Cambridge, England, having worked on Stone Age archaeological sites in Europe, the Near East and North Africa.

He and his wife Joan have created, and live in, a “more-sustainable” home in Brisbane (see ABC radio interview and photos on-line at http://www.abc.net.au/local/photos/2008/10/17/2394654.htm?site=brisbane).

Joan Cassels. 

Joan is an interactive grandparent . She gained her early organisational skills through bringing up four children who are now very successful adults. She is an experienced manager of community and community arts organisations and has particular experience in inter-generational learning programs and innovative recreational programs for older people. She has organised the construction and retrofitting of more than a dozen houses in both Australia and New Zealand to create liveable, healthy, energy-efficient and sustainable homes. She has been a self-employed craftsperson and is a keen gardener and creator of wildlife habitats. 

Joan Cassels likes to make things happen rather than talk about them. Having created sustainable homes, habitat gardens, community arts centres and craft markets, she is now working on creating support networks for older citizens that will enable them to stay in and enrich their local communities.She also enjoys challenging young people.    

Ken Hickson

Ken is author of the recent, ground-breaking book “The ABC of Carbon: Issues and opportunities in the global climate change environment”. He edits and distributes a fortnightly e-newsletter abc carbon express, featuring the latest environmnetal news. He regularly speaks at  conferences and forums, and has a particular interest in the environmental future of aviation.

He is a Governor of WWF Australia and a consultant to organisations wanting to become carbon neutral. He is now based in Singapore. Position: Director, Sustain Ability Showcase Consultancy Asia Pte. Ltd., www.sustain-ability-showcase.com and Director of ABC Carbon, http://www.abccarbon.com. Ken is Director, Sustain Ability Showcase Consultancy Asia Pte Ltd; Director, ABC Carbon; Chairman, Publicity Committee, Singapore Environment Council, Fellow, Institute of Public Relations of Singapore (IPRS); Governor, WWF Australia; Author/publisher “The ABC of Carbon”; Editor abc carbon express