Project Survival are 27 young people from Australia and the Pacific. You can find out who we are and what we do below.

Who I am: Jenny Reisz, Solomon Islands – Policy Team and Project Founder

Environmentally Bent: I work for the Australian Youth Climate Coalition on a volunteer basis, and have attended the POZNAN United Nations Conference in 2008.

Moonlights as: I am working in the Solomon Islands at the Ministry for Conservation and the Environment, supporting their climate change negotiators at the United Nations. I previously worked at ROAM Consulting in electricity market modeling as a climate change Analyst, advising clients on climate policy and renewable energy.

One Strange Thing: I have a passion for swing dancing.

Who I am: James Tilbury from Brisbane – Team Director

Environmentally Bent: Besides this project I work in climate change consulting, advising clients how to reduce their emissions, and sit on the Queensland University of Technology’s sustainability working party.

Moonlights as: I’m currently finishing off a civil engineering degree while working part time in the Climate Change and Sustainability department of Ernst & Young. I’ve spent the last three years establishing a student chapter of the aid organisation Engineers Without Borders.

One Strange Thing: I have an engineering degree, work in an accounting firm, and practice neither of those professions.

Who I am: Lauren Waugh, ACT – Welfare Officer, Media Team Member

Environmentally Bent: Emotionally blackmailed my parents into replacing a week on the beach in Broome with a low-carbon trip to Tasmania.

Moonlights as: Currently in my second year of Arts/Law at the ANU in Canberra, majoring in Political Science and English.

One Strange Thing: Last year I bought a turtle and named it Obama. It ran away. I can’t help but think that it was destined for greater things.

Who I am: Kellie Raab, Sydney – Policy Team Director.

Environmentally Bent: Apart from my day job (climate change policy development) and working on this project, I try to make small changes to live more sustainably. At the moment, I’m trying to think more about my food choices… where it came from and how it was made.

Moonlights as: I currently work in climate change impacts and adaptation policy, and will shortly be taking up a position in environmental Policy in the Pacific as an Australian Youth Ambassador.

One Strange Thing: I can’t ride a bike…. Until I learn, my only active transport option is to walk!

Who I am: Melissa Neighbour, Bondi, NSW – Media Director

Environmentally Bent: I am working with Project Survival Pacific and using the media to raise awareness about climate change in the Pacific Islands. I am also a Miss Earth finalist and I hope this will be a good platform to generate more attention for PSP. Everyday I also try to reduce my ecological footprint on our Mother Earth by re-using everything I can get my hands on – boxes, bags, containers and bottles!! I also commute to work by running!

Moonlights as: I work managing the marketing action plan for Conics Sydney. I am responsible for the marketing and communications actions as well as the planning and implementation of creative campaigns and special events.

One Strange Thing: I can read the clouds!!

Who I am: Tracy Elsen, Sydney – Media Team

Environmentally Bent: Trying to raise awareness of the issue in every way possible

One Strange Thing: I worked at Cosmo magazine before leaving to work for a climate change non-profit

Who I am: Matt Fossey, Perth – Youth Team Director

Environmentally Bent: Pedalling to work and switching the power off at the wall

Moonlights as: I’m currently working as a Marine Conservation Officer for the Department of Environment and Conservation in WA.

One Strange Thing: One day a pangolin followed me home

Who I am: Saideepa Kumar, Melbourne – Finance Director

Environmentally Bent: I am part of this amazing project and I feel privileged and honoured to play my part in a better future for our Pacific island neighbours. I believe every little step counts so I have already started making significant changes in my lifestyle to live simply and sustainably. I am also studying for a Master’s degree of environment – with the knowledge I gain, I will do my best to improve the resilience of developing nations, particularly in the area of water resource management.

Moonlights as: Recently I quit my job in IT project management to study full-time for a Masters degree in Environment at the University of Melbourne, focusing on water resource management.

One Strange Thing: Its more alarming than strange – If 20% of the world’s population produce the current degree of harmful effects, then 100% of the world’s population doing the same will produce 5 times this damage 5 x 20 is 5 x 20, no matter what your political or economic beliefs may be.

Who I am:Fergus Green of Melbourne – Policy Team

Environmentally Bent: In addition to volunteering with PSP, I attempt — seemingly against all odds — to elevate the quality of public discussion about climate change in Australia by contributing analytical and op-ed style articles and blog posts when I can.

Moonlights as: I’m currently a Law Graduate at Allens Arthur Robinson in Melbourne, practicing energy and climate change law. I have previously worked as a consultant on Australian energy and climate change issues and I occasionally blog on developments in climate policy at The Interpreter

One Strange Thing: I was born at 20:20 on the 20th of April (but don’t worry, the year did not begin with 20…).

Who I am: Nicole Bradley, Nuku’alofa, Tonga – Youth Team

Environmentally Bent: Trying to lead a more simple life (ride and walk, buy smaller, more
energy efficient goods, eat less processed foods, buy locally),
encouraging others to do the same, and education of colleagues, peers
and the community.

Moonlights as: , I’m in Tonga on a 12 month AYAD assignment, working as an Environment Development Officer with the Department of Environment – Tonga.

One Strange Thing: In Tonga, you can peel and drink a coconut you find roadside to
relieve your thirst, but it is illegal to carry it away!

Who I am: Olivia Greenwell, Melbourne – Assistant team Director

Environmentally Bent: Currently calculating my carbon footprint and making efforts to reduce it – so far I’ve stopped using public transport and just ride my bike (mostly, it rains a lot in Melbourne), switched appliances in our house to more efficient water and energy ratings, grow my own herbs and looking to expand this to vegies, buy locally produced, in-season fruit and vege.

Moonlights as: I work for a small environmental consultancy in Melbourne – we run environmental education programs for primary and secondary students, which include environmental events.

One Strange Thing: I can never keep up with conversations about television or advertising because I don’t watch television, that is a lot of conversation I can’t participate in!

Who I am: Natasha Chamberlain – Melbourne and Nuku’alofa, Tonga – PSP Policy Team

Environmentally Bent: I work on social vulnerability and adaptation research in the South Pacific, to try and understand how climate change is likely to affect communities and countries, and how they may be able to adapt to these impacts without a detrimental effect on their lifestyles and culture.

Moonlights as: I work as a research assistant for Melbourne University in the Dept of Resource Management and Geography, on social vulnerability and adaptation to climate change in the Pacific region. I am currently undertaking fieldwork in Tonga on links between climate change, health and social vulnerability, and later in the year will be looking at food security and climate change in East Timor.

One Strange Thing: I was named after a fruitcake (literally, a cake in a bakers shop…!)

Who I am: Shobaz Kandola, ACT – Fundraising Team

Environmentally Bent: I care about addressing climate change, but wouldn’t call myself an activist. Climate change isn’t a fringe issue it’s something which affects everybody.

Moonlights as: I am currently nearing the end of my Law/Arts degree at the Australian National University (ANU). I have been active in the United Nations Youth Association for many years holding various positions at both the state and national levels. I have also been fortunate to be involved with ANU Union as the Chairperson of the Board of Directors and the ANU Students’ Association as the Treasurer.

One Strange Thing: I, like two other members of Project Survival Pacific, am particilarly fond of West Wing

Who I am: Zoe Whitton – IT Director

Environmentally Bent: Have not thrown out a plastic bag since 1995. Not one. There is a plastic bag monster growing in my laundry now.

Moonlights as: Director of Whitton Media, a small interactive media consultancy based in Brisbane.

One Strange Thing: I don’t have the right nerves for pain tolerance, so I feel pain differently to most people, which was a problem when my appendix popped because I wasn’t in enough pain for anyone to realise what had gone wrong!

Pacific Delegates

Carlos Kusto (Federated States of Micronesia)

Carlos Kusto, aged 26, was born and raised on the Island of Pohnpei in the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM). He was one of the first interns for the Micronesia Challenge Internship program.  He then started working as the Grants Program Officer for the Micronesia Conservation Trust (MCT) – a charitable and irrevocable corporation organized to support biodiversity conservation and related sustainable development for the people of Micronesia by providing long term sustained funding. In 2007, Carlos served as the president of an Awak Pah Youth Organization chartered under the Pohnpei State Government. He also serves as the Marine Country Coordinator to the World Commission on Protected Areas for the FSM in the North and South Pacific Region and was seated as a member on the FSM Integrated Watershed Resource Management Council. Prior to his conservation work in the Micronesia Region, Carlos worked for the local newspaper company in Pohnpei as a Staff Reporter for one year.

Luana Bosanquet-Heays (Cook Islands)

Luana Bosanquet-Heays, aged 20, is from the Cook Islands and has been instrumental in setting up Pasifika Greens in Auckland, New Zealand – a group dedicated to addressing environmental and social justice issues that affect Pacific people. Luana has noticed the lack of information available for Pacific Islanders, on climate change in particular, despite the impacts that they will face in the not too distant future as a direct result of larger nations not taking climate responsibility.

Paul Nalau (Tanna)

Paul Nalau is a 29 year old from Tanna, the home island of the Yasur Volcano, the John Frum Cult movement and the personalities of ‘Meet the Natives’ series of National Geography channel. Paul works as the Senior Planning officer for the Department of Youth Development, Sport and Training. Some of his experiences include being Chairman of Habitat for Humanity Vanuatu, member of National Children’s Committee, member of National Aids Committee and United Nations Youth Advisory Panel for the Pacific. He is also the coordinator of the recently established Vanuatu National Youth Council and the National Youth Strategy. One of the eight key Priority areas in the National Youth Strategy is Environment Sustainability, an area that Paul hopes his attendance at Copenhagen next month will help him develop further through the networks and ideas generated from this meeting.

Maylin Sese (Solomon Islands)

Maylin Sese is from the Solomon Islands and works as a volunteer in many grassroots community development activities that focus on the environment, livelihoods and climate change adaptation. She has been working with women from her village to help build their adaptive capacity by giving them skills in accessing markets to sell their vegetables and learning new income generating skills such a floral arranging. She is excited about attending COP15 because she wants to tell the world not only the facts about how climate change is affecting Solomon Islands but that it has the real potential to pull people from their roots and displace people from their homes. Maylin would like to share her ideas about finding solutions to local climate change problems that are applicable to Solomon Islands. She was on the organising committee for the Climate Change International Day of Action in Honiara and is a member of the Girls for Change, a project which aims to educate and mentor girls on social and political issues such as climate change. Maylin hopes to visit remote Solomon Island provinces when she returns from COP15 so that she can conduct awareness workshops and help communities use their local knowledge and traditions to adapt to climate change at a grassroots level.

Georgina Maka’a (Solomon Islands)

Twenty four year old Georgina Maka’a works as a reporter at the Solomon Star, Solomon Island’s most popular newspaper. Gina is particularly interested in the role of the media in educating Solomon Islanders about climate change and how they can adapt to the impacts. She is concerned about the impact climate change will have on the lives of women and  girls in rural areas, where due to salt water intrusion on crops and the salination of drinking water, they will have to walk long distances to provide for their families. In her position as journalist at the Solomon Star, she has actively sought out climate change stories and visited areas already affected by climate change. She would like to use the media during COP15 to pressure countries to agree to a fair and legally binding deal, by advocating for the position of Pacific island nations. She will also be reporting daily for media in Solomon Islands on the negotiations so that they understand how this global event will affect their daily lives.

Christina Ora (Solomon Islands)

Seventeen year old Christina Ora, from the Solomon Islands, recently returned from a very successful climate change speaking tour in Canada with Climate Action Network Canada and Oxfam Canada where she spoke to thousands of people about how climate change is impacting on the lives and livelihoods of people in her island home. She was proud to be able to talk to people about her country and the real threats that exist to the culture, customs, traditions and identity of Solomon Islanders. Christina is interested in high level advocacy on mitigation and adaptation, directed at Annex 1 countries. She hopes to tell the world about the damage caused by flooding, cyclones, coastal erosion, sea level rise and salt water intrusion on crops, which have severe impacts on the subsistence lifestyle of Solomon Islanders living on the coast. Christina believes that young people have an important role in the climate change debate because they are the leaders of tomorrow and they will face the heavy impact of climate change throughout their lives. Christina plans to set up a youth climate change network when she returns to Honiara after her trip to Copenhagen.

Krishneil Narayan

Krishneil Narayan, aged 22, is from Suva, Fiji Islands. He completed his Bachelor of Science degree from The University of the South Pacific.  Krishneil is currently one of The Climate Project (TCP) CLIMATE PRESENTERS based in the Asia Pacific region who were personally trained by Nobel Peace Prize recipient and former US Vice President Hon. Al Gore to present a version of the slide-show known to many as the basis of his climate change movie “An Inconvenient Truth”. Krishneil has been talking directly to the community about the climate crisis and explaining how to implement ready solutions into our lives and work in order to avoid the worst of climate change by giving lectures at the University of the South Pacific; going into communities and schools educating about climate change; giving media interviews; conducting workshops to train people who can go back into their own villages and communities to talk about the seriousness of this climate crisis and what a common man living in a village or in the islands can do to help lower (climate change prevention) as well as adapt to (climate adaptation) the worst impacts of climate change. By going to Copenhagen, he hopes to strengthen the Pacific’s fight for survival and is hopeful for a positive outcome.