Haydn Washington

Biography

Dr Haydn Washington has a forty year history in environmental science. He has a degree in ecology, a Masters of Science in eco-toxicology (heavy metal pollution), a Dip. Ed., and a Ph.D. ‘The Wilderness Knot’ in Social Ecology (2007). Haydn was worked as an Investigations Scientist in CSIRO, studying heavy metal pollution and acid mine drainage. He has also worked as Director of the Nature Conservation Council of NSW (1988) and for many years as an environmental consultant. He has conducted many flora surveys as a plant ecologist (e.g. Gardens of Stone NP, Wollemi NP) and worked studying the Wollemi Pine (also finding the second site). He has also worked extensively within environmental non-government organisations, being a councillor on the Australian Conservation Foundation for four terms, the secretary of the Colo Committee (which led the campaign to create Wollemi NP), and a media officer for the Wilderness Society. He was Director of Sustainability at Willoughby City Council from 2007 to 2009 and wrote the first Sustainability Charter of any Council in Australia. Haydn has a keen interest in geodiversity and is the lead author in the 2011 paper ‘The Geoheritage and Geomorphology of the Sandstone Pagodas of the North-western Blue Mountains Region (NSW)’ published in the Proceedings of the Linnaean Society of NSW (Vo. 132, pp. 131-143).

Dr Washington is also an environmental writer, being the author of many articles, and six books on the environment - ‘Ecosolutions: environmental solutions for the world and Australia’ (1991), ‘A sense of Wonder’ (2002), ‘The Wilderness Knot’ (2009), ‘Climate Change Denial: Heads in the Sand’ (2011), ‘Human Dependence on Nature’ (2013), ‘Demystifying Sustainability: Towards Real Solutions’ (2015) and 'A Sense of Wonder Towards Nature' (2018). He is also currently on the Executive Board of the Colong Foundation for Wilderness. He is also the Co-Director of the NSW Chapter of the Center for the Advancement of a Steady State Economy.

Haydn is an Adjunct Lecturer at the PANGEA Research Centre, BEES, UNSW.

Education

PhD, Western Sydney University, 2006
M.Sc. Macquarie University, 1987

Areas of Research / Professional Expertise

Sustainability - demystifying its meaning. Is sustainability the same as 'sustainable development'?
Human dependence on nature - how humanity is totally dependent on the ecosystem services that nature provides
Denial - especially of climate change but also other environmental issues, and how we can break the denial dam about the environmental crisis
A 'sense of wonder' towards nature and the sense of place humans feel towards the land
Ecocentrism and ecological ethics

Personal Interests

Poetry - Haydn is a nature poet with three books of poetry published
Bushwalking in the Greater Blue Mountains area

Websites

• Wilderness Truths

Books

Videos