We protect what we love

FRIDAY . 01 . 10 . 21 .

👋🏻 👋🏽 👋🏾 👋🏿

Good morning wonderful people of FWP.

Welcome to the first newsletter of October, which also happens to be my favourite month - not just because it hosts my birthday, but because of the warm days and cool nights (we we can still sleep).

In our final 'vicarious living' special, FWP Founder and trail running guru, Majell, is taking to to Chamonix (pronounced Sha-mon-ee - the 'x' at the end is silent).

CHAMONIX

Chamonix is a place that holds my heart. In 2015 I paused my job moved to Chamonix and lived in a one bedroom apartment with 3 other people and a dog, Rosa. 

We lived simply and worked towards a goal, UTMB. It went a little like this.

Living in Chamonix provided an opportunity to form deep and lasting friendships and have experiences that I never thought possible. I can't wait to return to be honest.

Anyway, the Chamonix Valley is amazing, obviously, but it is heating up!! You can see some of these photos comparing 3 of the main glaciers in the valley a century apart. the Bossons, Argentière and the Mer de Glace. The amount of ice lost in the last hundred years is shocking… it's not natural.

And the issue may lie there... Chamonix valley has been the mecca for all extreme sports for decades. Mountaineering holds many of it' origins there and since then nearly every other sport has since called it home, including Trail Running.

It takes your breath away, the Mont-Blanc Massif and every single trail allows you to be in an element close to trail running heaven. That is why the worlds un-official trail running world champs is there every year in August where near on 10,000 runners FILL the valley along with thousands more fans and support crews. Is the love for this valley also killing it slowly (but also rapidly?)

It's tough - in that I love to visit so much, but I hate damaging something I love. 

It is a seasonal place for most people, travel in and out of the valley is mainly by car and this is one major factor in the reducing air quality and also general warming of the valley (and planet). The Mer de Glace “is now melting at the rate of around 40 metres a year and has lost 80 metres in depth over the last 20 years alone,” according to the glaciologist Luc Moreau.

Most of Europe’s remaining glacial ice will be gone by the end of this century, according to a new report by scientists from the Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research. The study showed that unless there is urgent action to slow or prevent climate change, then the 4000 Alpine glaciers will have disappeared by 2100.

Unfortunately, it makes Chamonix a perfect place for

a Running Up For Air event. 

But there are people working on the opportunities that are available in the Valley such as Zoe Hart, who's amazing work can be read about in

Patagonia's Roaring Journals.

How can we make our love for a sport and the planet come together and not just butt heads. Well we can do something, even if it's small. 

Because you know what they say...

to do good, you actually have to do something...

Until next time,

Majell

BIG DEAL: IS OUR DEMOCRACY FOR SALE?

W

Have you ever wondered why Australian politicians (ahem, Scomo, ahem)

seem to be stuck on the ‘gas led recovery’ bandwagon, despite the majority of Australian’s are keen for an emission free future?

A new documentary directed from the straight-talking Craig Reucassel (War on Waste, Bad Weather) and funny man Christiaan Van Vuuren (Bondi Hipsters) explores the influence that big industries and fossil fuels have on Australian politics. It’s called BIG DEAL: Is our democracy for sale? and our Team Lead and Director, Hilary McAllister, has organised an on demand screening and panel discussion to raise funds for Challenge for Climate.

The feature documentary is available to stream on demand from Friday 8 October - Monday 11 October.  After you’ve watched the documentary, join Carly Robertson from Climate for Change in conversation with BIG DEAL Director Craig Reucassel and 2040 Director Damon Gameau for a live Q&A event on Monday 11 October at 5.30pm AEDT.

Tickets are A$10 + booking fee and are available now from Humanitix. 

All proceeds from the online event will support the ongoing

work of Climate for Change.

Check out the Facebook event for more info and watch the trailer here.

NOTICE SOMETHING DIFFERENT?

At the top of this newsletter, you might have noticed something slightly

different. For eagle eyed readers, you may have registered the slight update in our FWP logo. We recently tweaked our logo, to better represent the unique flora and fauna of our local wild places.

The familiar colours are inspired by the iconic Queensland cassowary, the rugged, sandstone cliffs of the NT, the bright, pink blossoms on the gum trees in spring, vibrant orange banksias and glossy silvery gum leaves.

Linda, one of our amazing volunteer graphic designers, hand illustrated a range of Australian flora, including gum leaves, fan palms, kangaroo paw flowers and banksia leaves. These were then methodically reworked and simplified to create the shapes included in the circular logo. 

The whole team played a part in creating this logo, especially Jodi, our marketing and design guru, who helped oversee the process. We are excited to roll this layered and meaningful logo out across all FWP platforms – check out this great animation Linda put together to see what native plants

and flowers are included in our logo.

AND FINALLY....

You may have seen on socials this week that we've postponed

the Pilliga Ultra.... again. We are excited (and incredibly hopeful!) to host PU on Saturday 26th March 2022. We really hope that those that had planned to join us in October can make the new date, and that a few new faces will join us too. For more info on the event details, head to the event website. If you can't make the new date, please reach out via email and we can refund your entry fee and contact your fundraisers.

Hope to see you in the beautiful Pilliga for a long overdue celebration of

protecting wild places in March 2022!

🦘 🔸 🦘

Thank you for taking the time for wild places. Stay safe and connected.

Majell, Hilary, Elanor & the For Wild Places crew.

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We acknowledge the the First Nations people who have been custodians of land, waters and culture for tens of thousands of years. We pay respects to First Nations Elders past, present and emerging.

This newsletter was written on the stolen lands of the Dja Dja Wurrung people of djandak country.

To these people, we pay our respects.

Always was, always will be.

By For Wild Places

We're a group of adventurers who love to

protect wild places we run on