Sophie Wolanski

Gadigal Land, photos by Arielle Gamble

 

Home is . . .

A lot messier since having a toddler but it’s ours.

Love is . . .

Passion.

Happiness is . . .

Totally cliché- but making my 2 year old laugh. 

 
0F3A1700 EDIT.jpg
 

Tell us about your creative practise and the way it’s evolved.

Muck Floral has evolved with me as I’ve moved countries, cities, studios . . . Because flowers are such a temporal material, where I am hugely effects what I use. In New Zealand I would forage for a lot of product as the proximity to big county roads was so near to the city. Lots of wild growing roses, and blossom trees, and then in summer, the fruiting branches and wonderful native foliages. In Sydney, there are wonderful local growers at the flower market, many growing unique and native specimens, so it’s about the adrenaline early in the morning and being tuned in to every detail around you.

What helps when things get tough?

The ocean.

What’s it like raising kids during times like these?

Confronting.

What was your penny drop moment about climate change?

Having a baby through the recent bushfires and contemplating what his future looked like completely shocked me into reality. Hearing him develop a cough from air pollution was devastating and undeniable.

 
0F3A1396.JPG
 

What has been your greatest lesson in life?

Learning my self-worth and being very considered about who I share my time with and surround myself by. 

What do you wish you could do better?

So much! Too much to write it all, but I’ll start with balance. And patience.

If I could teach my children something about land, I would tell them . . .

They don’t own it, so tread lightly.

The footprint I want to leave on this earth is . . .

Less than the impact I had. 

 
0F3A1479.JPG
 

What gives you hope?

People who are motivated. People who go after their goals. My friends.

Why did you join Groundswell?

So I could be an active participant in change as opposed to just donating a sum of money and walking away. I love the continuous education and involvement that we get as a Groundswell member.  

 
 
0F3A1803.JPG

Sophie Wolanski is an artist whose medium is flowers.

muck floral
 

Join Groundswell

Featured
Comms Declare
Comms Declare

A significant part of the fossil fuel industry’s soft power is advertising and sponsorships, where companies position themselves as part of Australia’s identity and essential to the economy. This advertising gives the industry undeserved social licence and further entrenches its damaging practices. Momentum has been growing both internationally and domestically against fossil fuel promotion, with secretary general of the United Nations António Guterres last month calling on all countries to ban advertising for coal, petroleum and gas companies.

Farmers for Climate Action
Farmers for Climate Action

Farmers for Climate Action (FCA) started in 2015 with a meeting of 30 farmers in the Blue Mountains, NSW, who had spent decades voicing their concerns about climate change to no avail. Today. they have more than 8,000 farmer members as well as more than 45,000 supporters and are one of the most influential climate groups in Australia, ideally positioned to influence governments to implement strong economy-wide climate policy.

Climate Media Centre
Climate Media Centre

If we want our leaders to make good decisions and take more ambitious climate action, then the public must be perceived as wanting change. Which is where the Climate Media Centre (CMC) comes in. As Australia’s go-to bureau for climate stories, they connect journalists with more than 5,000 trained climate spokespeople, driving a constant drumbeat of media stories which reinforce the message that climate change is an urgent priority.

Climate Justice Legal Project
Climate Justice Legal Project

As the climate crisis intensifies, it’s become clear the only meaningful way to turn things around is through action taken at a structural level. This means redesigning our laws, institutions, policies and services so they work for all of us, not just some of us. Enter the Climate Justice Legal Project, a collaboration between the Federation of Community Legal Centres, Environmental Justice Australia and the Climate Council.

Australian Youth Climate Coalition
Australian Youth Climate Coalition

Young people and future generations will live longest with the consequences of decisions made today, despite having done the least to cause the climate crisis and being shut out of decision-making spaces. It’s this injustice that sparked the creation of the Australia Youth Climate Coalition (AYCC) as a way to mobilise and organise young people to step up and demand more action from our elected leaders to protect the future they will inherit.

Australasian Centre for Corporate Responsibility
Australasian Centre for Corporate Responsibility

By 2030 total global greenhouse gas emissions need to drop by 43% to align with the latest science and keep global warming to 1.5C. This is a massive target and to reach it, Australia’s largest emitters cannot be ignored. Enter ACCR. While you might not have heard much about this shareholder advocacy organisation, they’re behind some the most exciting climate breakthroughs in recent years, including the huge climate shake-up at AGL, Australia’s biggest carbon emitter.

Gudanji For Country Bush Trip
Gudanji For Country Bush Trip

Rikki Dank/Lhudi Noralima is a Gudanji and Wakaya person from the Barkley tablelands area of the Northern Territory, an area more widely known for being part of the Beetaloo Basin. With this Country at risk of fracking, Rikki recently launched Gudanji For Country Bush Trips for small groups of people to witness the impacts of fracking on First Nations communities up close. Here’s what happened.

Healthy Homes for Renters
Healthy Homes for Renters

Sometimes climate change shows up in our lives in extraordinary ways, such as with extreme weather events. But most of the time living with climate change comes down to the most ordinary of moments, like trying to sleep through the night during the heat of summer. This is one of the reasons Better Renting – a community of renters working together for stable, affordable, and healthy homes, climate justice – recently won a Groundswell grant even though they aren’t a climate organisation.

Tomorrow Movement
Tomorrow Movement

Tomorrow Movement call themselves a group of “ordinary young people…fighting for a tomorrow that works for everyone, not just big business.” And yet, there’s nothing ordinary about what they’re doing. Working together as a 5,000 member strong organisation Tomorrow Movement is climate advocacy at its strongest.

Nic Seton on the political power of parents
Nic Seton on the political power of parents

As a parent of two kids with a background in environmental campaigning, Nic Seton knows that while parents are a powerful constituency for progress on climate, they’re usually so flat out managing everything at home and work there’s little time for anything else. So In 2021 he became CEO of Australian Parents for Climate Action, an organisation made up of 17, 000 parents who together are proving to be an unstoppable force for climate action.

PROFILEarielle gamble