Inspired by his travels through wild places of astonishing beauty, Frank is passionate about helping to drive action and positive change.
I am happiest when I am camped out under the stars, scrambling over an escarpment to see pristine and glorious views, or awed by the flights of flocks of budgerigars on a bush track in Central Australia.
Over the years, we have travelled to many lands and around Australia and have seen the changes wrought by a changing climate, unimpeded development and the exploitation of limited resources.
We have seen glaciers recede and disappear, resulting in reduced Spring melt for agriculture, and Antarctic ice recede further and earlier than it has ever done, risking the survival of penguin colonies. We have seen vast tracts of forests burnt due to extreme temperatures and cities in China in a perpetual haze, where children grow up without seeing the sun, moon or stars.
We face a pressing existential threat in climate change. If we do not take urgent action to address this, then all other actions on the environment become moot. We can try to save the koalas or the Great Barrier Reef, but if we don’t reverse climate change, the threat to the planet and of extinction remains.
We need to stop destroying or degrading this world in the pursuit of short-term political, economic and financial advantage and learn to co-exist with our natural environment. I want science, not politics to guide us in the actions we need to take.
I see ACF as an organisation that is a strong advocate for nature who believes progress can only be made through engagement rather than confrontation. Through the years, ACF has proven itself effective by having this approach.
We have left a bequest to ACF in our wills because the natural world needs champions to fight for it and there will be many battles ahead.
We hope our bequest will help in a little way in securing a future for our natural world and Mother Earth. I hope, in future, we care more for the creatures and the world that we are custodians of so the next generation can have as good a future as we have had.
