Dear Reader…

Many of you have followed the soap-operatic battle between forests and greed in Tasmania over the last couple of years as we have been one of the few mainland papers to consistently report on the ongoing high farce of Gunns’ pulp mill and its unique ‘approval’ process.

In just a couple of weeks on September 20, the Sydney Marathon will be taking place as part of the Sydney Running Festival. My goal in running this marathon is to raise $1500 for TAP Into a Better Tasmania. TAP have worked since Day 1 to fight an almost entirely unaccountable bureaucratic and corporate process in Tasmania. They have helped to topple a Premier and buy time for threatened forest giants.

Logging ancient forests is not sustainable. They do not grow back. Their species don’t return to live in plantation forests. Their groundwater supplies do not begin to regenerate for roughly fifty years after industrial logging – at which point they are almost due to be logged again. Not to mention the possible impacts of highly toxic dioxins in Tasmania’s pristine waters and estuaries. Did I mention climate change?

If you would like to help frontline grassroots activists committed to stopping the Gunns’ pulp mill in its poorly considered tracks, please visit my Sydney Marathon fundraising page at http://www.gofundraise.com.au/waterairandtrees. Whether you can spare $5, $10, or get together with a bunch of green friends and donate even more, every bit makes a difference and every bit will help.

Thankyou.