Anna Rose (born 14 April 1983) is an Australian author, activist and environmentalist. She co-founded the

Australian Youth Climate Coalition The Australian Youth Climate Coalition (AYCC) is a youth organisation in Australia. When the organisation first began, the coalition consisted of 25 other youth organisations, which included the National Union of Students amongst many, however ...

(AYCC) in late 2006 with Amanda McKenzie. In 2012 she co-starred in an

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster ** Disney–ABC Television ...

documentary, ''I Can Change Your Mind on Climate Change'' and released her first full-length book, ''Madlands: A Journey to Change the Mind of a Climate Sceptic''. Rose is the founder and CEO of Environment Leadership Australia, a not-for-profit, non-partisan organisation championing community and political leadership on climate change. She sits on the Board of Directors of Farmers for Climate Action, is a Governor of WWF-Australia, an advisory board member for

Australian Geographic Society Australian Geographic is a media business that produces the ''Australian Geographic'' magazine, ''DMag'' magazine, specialist book titles, travel guides, diaries and calendars and online media. It published editions of the Australian Encyclop ...

, and a former

Myer Foundation The Myer Foundation is a major Australian philanthropic organisation. History The Sidney Myer Charitable Trust was established by the will of Sidney Myer, who died in 1934, leaving a portion of his estate for the benefit of the community. Myer's ...

Innovation Fellow.

Early life and education

Rose was born in

Newcastle, NSW Newcastle ( ; Awabakal: ) is a metropolitan area and the second most populated city in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It includes the Newcastle and Lake Macquarie local government areas, and is the hub of the Greater Newcastle area, ...

, and graduated from

Merewether High School , motto_translation = , established = , coordinates = , pushpin_map = Australia New South Wales , pushpin_image = Australia New South Wales relief location map.png , pushpin_maps ...

in 2001. She won a scholarship with Distinction to the

University of Sydney The University of Sydney (USYD), also known as Sydney University, or informally Sydney Uni, is a public research university located in Sydney, Australia. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in Australia and is one of the country's ...

and graduated in 2008 with degrees in law (1st class honours) and Arts. During her studies, she was part of the Department of Geography's South East Asian field school along the Mekong Delta, and in her final year she went on exchange to

Cornell University Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to tea ...

in upstate New York. Rose received the Young Alumni Award for Achievement in 2009.

Career

Student activism

Rose was elected Environment Officer of the

Students Representative Council {{Unreferenced, date=July 2014A students' representative council, also known as a students' administrative council, represents student interests in the government of a university, school or other educational institution. Generally the SRC forms par ...

and was spokesperson for the organisation ''Sustainability'' at Sydney University. In 2005 and 2006 she helped to lead a student campaign for the university to take action to reduce carbon emissions. In 2004 Rose was elected an editor of ''

Honi Soit ''Honi Soit'' is the student newspaper of the University of Sydney. First published in 1929, the newspaper is produced by an elected editorial team and a select group of reporters sourced from the university's populace. The name is an abbrevi ...

'', the weekly student newspaper. In 2005 Rose deferred her studies for a year upon election as National Environment Officer for the National Union of Students as a member of the

Australian Student Environment Network The Australian Student Environment Network (ASEN) is the national network of many campus environment collectives in Australia, formed at the 1997 Students and Sustainability convergence in Townsville. People from ASEN facilitate communication betw ...

. At the end of 2005 Rose was selected to attend the United Nations Kyoto Protocol climate change negotiations in Montreal. In 2007 Rose went on exchange to Cornell Law School and while living in the United States represented young Australians at the

Secretary General Secretary is a title often used in organizations to indicate a person having a certain amount of authority, power, or importance in the organization. Secretaries announce important events and communicate to the organization. The term is derived ...

's Special Conference on

Climate Change In common usage, climate change describes global warming—the ongoing increase in global average temperature—and its effects on Earth's climate system. Climate change in a broader sense also includes previous long-term changes to ...

at the United Nations in New York on 24 September.

Australian Youth Climate Coalition

In 2006, Rose founded the

by bringing together representatives from all major Australian youth-run organisations in Melbourne for a three-day founding summit. Rose was AYCC's first national director, studying law while starting up the new organisation. After she returned from the United States, Amanda McKenzie and Rose shared the leadership of the organisation as co-directors. Rose's early work with the AYCC included setting up organisational fundamentals, growing membership, and representing the organisation in the media and at public events. For example, she spoke alongside the

Dalai Lama Dalai Lama (, ; ) is a title given by the Tibetan people to the foremost spiritual leader of the Gelug or "Yellow Hat" school of Tibetan Buddhism, the newest and most dominant of the four major schools of Tibetan Buddhism. The 14th and current D ...

at Perth's

Burswood Dome The Dome at Crown Perth (originally the Burswood Superdome and formerly the Burswood Dome) was a multipurpose indoor arena used for sports and entertainment. The dome was in size, with seating for 13,600 people. The whole arena was pressurised s ...

. Rose was instrumental in two Australian Youth Climate Coalition projects in 2009.

Power Shift Power Shift is an annual youth summit which has been held in New Zealand, Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom and the United States. Other Power Shift Conferences are also being organised by members of the International Youth Climate Movement ...

, Australia's first youth climate summit, brought together 1500 of the AYCC's most active members together at the

University of Western Sydney Western Sydney University, formerly the University of Western Sydney, is an Australian multi-campus university in the Greater Western region of Sydney, Australia. The university in its current form was founded in 1989 as a federated network ...

for three days of training and workshops in campaigning and grassroots organising. The final day culminated in a

flash mob A flash mob (or flashmob) is a group of people who assemble suddenly in a public place, perform for a brief time, then quickly disperse, often for the purposes of entertainment, satire, and artistic expression. Flash mobs may be organized via t ...

dance on the steps of the Sydney Opera House. In December 2009 Rose helped lead a delegation of young Australians and Pacific islanders to the

United Nations climate change conference in Copenhagen The 2009 United Nations Climate Change Conference, commonly known as the Copenhagen Summit, was held at the Bella Center in Copenhagen, Denmark, between 7 and 18 December. The conference included the 15th session of the Conference of the Partie ...

Consultant and freelance writer

In 2009 Rose wrote a chapter on environment and sustainability for the book ''The Future, By Us'' published by Hardie Grant Books. Rose has published articles in ''

The Age ''The Age'' is a daily newspaper in Melbourne, Australia, that has been published since 1854. Owned and published by Nine Entertainment, ''The Age'' primarily serves Victoria, but copies also sell in Tasmania, the Australian Capital Territory ...

'', the '' Sydney Morning Herald'', ''

The Australian ''The Australian'', with its Saturday edition, ''The Weekend Australian'', is a broadsheet newspaper published by News Corp Australia since 14 July 1964.Bruns, Axel. "3.1. The active audience: Transforming journalism from gatekeeping to gatew ...

'', ''

Vogue Vogue may refer to: Business * ''Vogue'' (magazine), a US fashion magazine ** British ''Vogue'', a British fashion magazine ** ''Vogue Arabia'', an Arab fashion magazine ** ''Vogue Australia'', an Australian fashion magazine ** ''Vogue China'', ...

Australia'' and other publications. In 2012 Rose appeared on the

ABC Television ABC Television most commonly refers to: *ABC Television Network of the American Broadcasting Company, United States, or *ABC Television (Australian TV network), a division of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, Australia ABC Television or ABC ...

documentary ''I Can Change Your Mind About... Climate''.

''Madlands: A Journey to Change the Mind of A Climate Sceptic''

In 2012 Melbourne University Press published Rose's book ''Madlands: A Journey to Change the Mind of a Climate Sceptic''. The book is the story of Rose's efforts to change the mind of former Finance Minister

Nick Minchin Nicholas Hugh Minchin (born 15 April 1953) is a former Australian politician and former Australian Consul-General in New York, USA. He previously served as a Liberal member of the Australian Senate representing South Australia from July 1993 t ...

on the science of climate change. The book received favourable reviews by authors Bill McKibben and

Peter FitzSimons Peter John Allen FitzSimons (born 29 June 1961) is an Australian author, journalist, and radio and television presenter. He is a former national representative rugby union player and has been the chair of the Australian Republic Movement sin ...

, scientists

Tim Flannery Timothy Fridtjof Flannery (born 28 January 1956) is an Australian mammalogist, palaeontologist, environmentalist, conservationist, explorer, author, science communicator, activist and public scientist. He was awarded Australian of the Yea ...

and Matthew England, former leader of the

Liberal Party The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left. __TOC__ Active liberal parties This is a li ...

John Hewson John Robert Hewson AM (born 28 October 1946) is an Australian former politician who served as leader of the Liberal Party from 1990 to 1994. He led the Liberal-National Coalition to defeat at the 1993 Australian federal election. Hewson wa ...

, CEO of

World Vision Australia World Vision Australia (WVA) is an ecumenical Christian non-governmental organisation based in Melbourne, Australia. It is a part of the ''World Vision International Partnership'' led by World Vision International. WVA is Australia's largest o ...

Tim Costello Timothy Ewen Costello AO (born 4 March 1955) is an Australian Baptist minister who was the Chief Executive Officer and Chief Advocate of World Vision Australia. Costello worked as a lawyer and served as mayor of St Kilda. He has authored a ...

, and lead singer of the Australian band

Blue King Brown Blue King Brown are an Australian urban roots ensemble formed in 2003 in Byron Bay, New South Wales, Byron Bay by mainstays Natalie Pa'apa'a, Nattali Rize and Carlo Santone. They have released three studio albums, ''Stand Up'' (October 2006), '' ...

, Natalie Pa'apa'a. Later in 2012, Rose also toured the book around Australia on the 'Madlands Book Tour', visiting over 50 towns and cities around Australia.

Academic

Rose was a course convenor and lecturer at the

Australian National University The Australian National University (ANU) is a public research university located in Canberra, the capital of Australia. Its main campus in Acton encompasses seven teaching and research colleges, in addition to several national academies an ...

, for the undergraduate course 'Leadership & Influence'. 'Leadership & Influence' is one of three Vice Chancellor's Courses, which are high-level, inter-disciplinary subjects involving active discovery and research.http://vc-courses.anu.edu.au Rose is currently an Associate with the Melbourne University Sustainable Societies Institute.

Farmers for Climate Action

Rose is on the board of Farmers for Climate Action, a movement of farmers and agricultural leaders putting farmers at the centre of climate solutions behind and beyond the farm gate.

Groundswell

Rose is a co-founder of Australia's first climate advocacy-focused giving circle, Groundswell.

Environmental Leadership Australia

Rose is the founder and CEO of Environment Leadership Australia, a not-for-profit, non-partisan organisation championing community and political leadership on climate change.

Awards and honours

Rose's awards and honours include: *2007–2008 – International Youth Foundation Fellowship *2008 – Delegate, Prime Minister's Australia 2020 Summit *2008–2009 – Australian Leadership Award from the Australian Davos Connection *2009 – University of Sydney Young Alumni Award for Achievement *2010 – Sydney Morning Herald '100 Most Influential Sydneysiders' *2010 – Sierra Club Earthcare Award for International Environmental Protection *2011 – Sydney Morning Herald '50 Most Powerful People in NSW' *2011 – The Australian/ IBM Expert Contributor, Shaping Our Future Series *2014 – Australian Geographic Society's Conservationist of the Year *2015 – ACT Australian of the Year Nominee *2019 – AFR Woman of Influence

Publications

* ''Madlands, a journey into the climate fight'', 2012, Melbourne University Press

References

External links

Public comment on the ABC TV program ''I can change your mind about climate change''
Sydney Morning Herald, 28 April 2012.
How people resist changing their minds
'The Conversation', 27 April 2012. {{DEFAULTSORT:Rose, Anna Australian writers Australian environmentalists Australian women environmentalists Living people 1983 births