Donald stumbled across Melbourne’s Sustainable Living Festival in 2005. The event raised his curiosity about climate change and sustainability. Three years later he reconnected with the Festival and began his journey into a sustainability career going from visitor to volunteer to employee with the Festival team.

Originally from Scotland, and working in the insurance field at the time, Donald remembers that he was about to become a parent and “my wife told me she wanted to have a happy father for her child and to choose a career path that I was passionate about – I then consciously decided to change careers”. That momentous decision resulted in him leaving his job to pursue additional qualifications in sustainability, while volunteering and working for the Festival. Donald was drawn to SLF’s inclusive nature as it gave him the opportunity to work and access a network of dedicated sustainability professionals who “quickly became a part of my family”.

Donald doesn’t want his daughter to inherit a planet where she fights for survival.

He is inspired to be a part of the climate change response but he is also a man with a mortgage to pay and a child to feed. So, as much as his involvement with SLF was to help accelerate the uptake of sustainable living, it was also about enhancing his credentials in the sustainability arena. Donald says that “there is no question that where I am now, in terms of my career, would not have happened without the SLF connection. My work experience at the Festival gave me genuine credibility in job interviews”.

Donald landed the Sustainability and Waste Manager role at The Salvation Army where he managed their national sustainability and waste program.

During his time at The Salvos, he focused on waste avoidance, resource recovery and the prevention of illegal dumping/littering. This role required engagement with local councils in order to educate the general public about sustainability and waste. Opportunity came calling again in 2013 when Donald was appointed the Victorian Manager for EnviroCom, an organisation dedicated to providing environmental education, research and training programs for industry and government throughout Australia.

But as Donald says “it’s great to work in these diverse organisations but it’s also important to keep in touch with the Festival community to stay connected to what’s happening at the grassroots level”.