Vivien Sung is a facilitator, educator and visual storyteller passionate about guiding individual and collective change to restore wellbeing and right relationship with our living world. Combining her expertise in leadership and inner development, creative and systems thinking, regenerative development and systemic constellations, she stewards pathways to societal and planetary well-being.
Viv is co-founder of School of Being, dedicated to restoring wellbeing within ourselves, our relations, our places and our living world. Her work is rooted in the belief that regeneration is not only ecological but deeply relational, grounded in heart-centred and restorative ways of being.
Viv shares her reflections, insights and inspirations from her time at WELA as a guest facilitator amplifying voices of environmental change.
I’ve had the great pleasure not only to be a guest facilitator at the WELA National Leadership Program, but also to support environmental changemaking through the creation of a 7.5 metre visual installation artwork with WELA. The visual map serves to illuminate voices of change, capturing the impacts of colonisation, as well as the advocacy movements of First Nations, women and gender-diverse rights and environmental activism. These three movements are interwoven, even though they often seem separate, each contributes to creating a more just, equitable and life-sustaining future for all.
Reflection is essential in guiding us toward wiser decision-making and meaningful action. By drawing upon the knowledge and wisdom of those who came before us, those who fought against immense odds and political resistance, we can learn valuable lessons from both their successes and their failures.When we look back on history, it is not long ago that First nations could vote (1962), women could have financial independence by having a bank account (1972), that whaling stopped in 1978, and interestingly one-third of Australian households today have solar, the highest percentage in the world (2024).
It’s vital to observe that in the 1970’s, political support under Gough Whitlam and coinciding movements enabled significant women’s advancement including equal pay of work of equal value, and abolished fees for university and TAFE enabling a diverse and intersectional range of people to become thought leaders today.
While there is much more ahead for future changemaking, it’s thanks to all those who have fought for our forests, stopped extractive mining, saved our reefs, those who are working on energy transitions, degrowth, campaigning, the circular economy, regeneration and so much more.
The WELA Stories of Change timeline helps us take a greater, systemic perspective and highlights the often-unseen efforts of women and gender-diverse advocates in environmental activism. It illuminates the truth of our history, acknowledges how recent many of the wins have been, and serves as a call to action to co-create the path forward together, inspiring hope by pledging our own commitments to a better future.
The living, participatory map captures the contributions of a multitude of voices from many generations from First Nations voices, WELA team, activists, environmentalists and changemakers and continuing contributions from audiences.
WELA has hosted a number of workshops at the National Leadership Program that explores the history of the environmental movement in Australia. At the 2024 NLP retreat, with an intergenerational panel of women leaders Louise Duxbury, First Nations custodian Dianne Royce, Judy Lambert and Jess Scully, I captured the first version of the map live. The remarkable cohort of women environmental leaders in the NLP program contributed by marking their contributions to activism on the map. Not only are environmental leaders able to situate themselves in the broader movement, but also from this greater perspective, we can imagine a better future walking forward together. After additional fact-checking and research, the map was turned into a living digital artwork designed for audience interaction.
It is with deep respect that I acknowledge the 65,000 plus years of First Nations history prior to colonisation, and the longer timeline of history that went before. This was represented by a long ball of yarn which extended endlessly around the room. These past 250 years are just a blip in the greater timeline of history where so much degradation to our natural world has occurred. Traditional custodians people hold an important role in their custodianship of Country and ecological knowledge, practices, and perspectives.
Collaborating with the WELA team has been a source of inspiration, and a point made by longtime activist and WELA lead facilitator Lou Duxbury has stayed with me ‘Direct action and writing to MPs works.’ I have met many incredible activists on the ground – protecting forests, stopping mining, standing up for our waterways and saving our wildlife. Thanks to the many on the ground efforts, campaigners and changemakers, that we continue to have our precious bushland today. If I could impart a key message, it’s the importance of engaging in these efforts. We can all play a role in changemaking whether through personal actions, policy change, creative design, regenerative approaches, supporting indigenous cultural perspectives or cultivating shifts in mindset.
Through the process, I have been invigorated to use visual storytelling as a form of activism and changemaking to reveal stories that need to be heard to sustain our planet. Recently, I’ve been involved in campaigning and protests with the Rainforest Information Centre and Bob Brown Foundation to end native forest logging in the Great Koala National Park in NSW, motivating action through visual story.
The WELA Stories of Change timeline is a pivotal account of environmental history bringing visibility to the role of inspiring women, First Nations and intersectional voices in driving change. These actions and acts of resistance have paved the way for rights and the natural ecosystems we enjoy today. Each of us has a role to play in contributing to better futures for generations to come.
Together, we can make collective change.