MELBOURNE — Thousands of people marched on June 4 to mark World Environment Day and call on the state Labor government to protect Victoria’s old-growth forests. The world’s largest “tree hug” took place when a 70-metre-long banner, representing the average height of trees in Victoria’s old-growth forests, was unfurled through the crowd.

Speakers, including actor Jack Thompson, meteorologist Rob Gell and musician John Butler, noted that Victoria’s old-growth forests are home to a host of endangered animals, including Victoria’s state emblem, the Leadbeaters possum. Megan Clinton, a rally organiser and the Wilderness Society’s Victorian forests campaigner, told Green Left Weekly that “up to 10,000 people” attended to “send a clear message to the Bracks government that they want these forests protected. Old-growth forests are the lifeline to our future.”

Kim Bullimore

From Green Left Weekly, June 14, 2006.
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