Environment and charity: giving back 

Jamie is an active environmentalist and passionate about issues relating to climate change, sustainable design and practices, and the health and wellbeing of our planet.


He is the ambassador and advocate for a range of environmental and charity organisations within Australia and internationally – including Planet Ark, Australian Conservation Foundation, Earth Hour, Forest Stewardship Council and Botanic Gardens trust – and takes every effort to promote environmentally sustainable practices within his work.

Committed to giving back to our planet, Jamie donates his time and resources to more than 50 charities each year, including Plan International, Children's Cancer Institute for Medical Research, The Leukaemia Foundation, The Children’s Hospital at Westmead, The Starlight Children’s Foundation and the Diabetes Research Foundation.
 
His dedication has seen him receive a Centenary Medal in 2003 from the Prime Minister of Australia in recognition of his efforts towards charity and Australian television. He is an Ambassador and Advocate for the following organisations:

Australian Conservation Foundation 

Presenter – The Climate Project, 2 years
 
The Australian Conservation Foundation (ACF) is committed to inspiring people to achieve a healthy environment for all Australians. For over 40 years the ACF have been a strong voice for the environment, promoting solutions through research, consultation, education and partnerships. They work with the community, business and government to protect, restore and sustain our environment.
 
In September 2007, Jamie was one of 160 Australians selected and trained by The Honourable Al Gore to become an official presenter for The Climate Project – Al Gore’s climate change leadership programme with the ACF. Part of Jamie’s role is to present a minimum of ten climate change slide shows using the Al Gore presentation made famous in his Oscar winning environmental documentary An Inconvenient Truth.
 
Jamie also supports GreenHome – ACF’s program assisting Australians to make their homes, gardens and lives more environmentally sustainable.
 
www.acfonline.org.au

Planet Ark  

Ambassador, 15 years

Planet Ark's aim is to show people and businesses the many ways they can reduce their day-to-day impact on the environment – at home, at work and in the community.

Jamie is an ambassador for Planet Ark’s annual National Tree Day, Australia's biggest community tree-planting event. Since Tree Day started in 1996 more than 2 million volunteers have planted over 12.7 million native trees and shrubs. In 2008, Jamie’s radio and television campaign helped encourage almost 400,000 people to plant 1.2 million trees at 3400 sites around Australia.

In 2004 Jamie also took on another Planet Ark ambassadorial role, promoting the recycling of printer cartridges. Extensive radio and television campaigns are also part of his annual ambassador program.

www.planetark.org
www.treeday.planetark.org

Plan International

Ambassador & Child Sponsor, 8 years
 
Jamie has been a Plan Ambassador since 2002 and currently sponsors two children through Plan – Aramazan, 11, from Uganda; and Ainiyatul, 10, from Indonesia.
 
Jamie has travelled to Sri Lanka and to Uganda to meet his sponsored children and to experience first hand Plan's child–centered community development at work. While in Uganda in 2006, Jamie also visited Plan's HIV/AIDS programs to film and produce a documentary titled Jamie's Journey: Hope for Uganda's Children, which screened on both the Nine Network and Seven Network in Australia.

“I went to Uganda to find out how I could support these amazing people. I am doing that in the best way I know how – to communicate their story to as many people as possible, in the hope we can provide more support through child sponsorship and regular donations,” says Jamie.
 
In 2007, Jamie chose Plan as his charity of choice when he competed on the Seven Network’s popular Australian TV series Dancing with the Stars.

In September 2008 Jamie travelled to India to film a television special called Jamie’s Journey with the Children of India showing Plan's involvement in early childhood care and development in India. This will screen on the Seven Network (Australia) in 2009. Read more about Jamie's journey to India in his diary.

www.plan.org.au
www.plan-international.org

Botanic Gardens Trust 

Ambassador & former Board member, 6 years
 
Sydney’s Botanic Gardens Trust is committed to what has become known as ‘sustainable horticulture’. A 190–year old organisation devoted to the study and display of plants – including innovative planting methods, modern design, practical approaches to water conservation, integrated pest management and soil improvement – the Trust manages some of the most striking cultural and historical landscapes in Australia: the Royal Botanic Gardens and Domain on Sydney Harbour, Mount Tomah Botanic Garden in the Blue Mountains and Mount Annan Botanic Garden in Western Sydney.
 
The Royal Botanic Gardens is a place of natural beauty, where people come for peace, relaxation, education, and to learn more about plants and horticulture. The surrounding parkland of the Domain is a place for sport, entertainment and recreation.
 
In 2004 Jamie was commissioned to design a permanent feature in Sydney’s Royal Botanic Gardens, an environmentally sound sculpture utilising recycled steel and waterwise succulent plants. In 2004 he also donated a rammed earth wall garden featuring Australian native plants that he designed for Sydney in Bloom to the Mount Annan Botanic Garden, it too becoming becoming a permanent feature of the garden.
 
Jamie has been a Board member and is now an Ambassador of the Royal Botanic Gardens Trust.

www.rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au

Forest Stewardship Council 

Ambassador, 3 years

The FSC is an international, not-for-profit, membership-based organisation with a mission to promote environmentally appropriate, socially beneficial and economically viable management of the world’s forests.

Jamie's involvement with FSC began with the quest to make all timber furniture within the Patio By Jamie Durie range FSC certified. Launched in 2003, the PATIO by Jamie Durie range (available exclusively to Big W stores throughout Australia) includes a large selection of timber outdoor furniture that is all certified to FSC standards, helping to ensure our high level of commitment to the environment, sustainable design and sustainable practices at both the forest manager and manufacturing stages of production.

When you buy products with the FSC logo, your purchase is supporting healthy forests and strong communities. Under FSC certification, forests are certified against a set of strict environmental and social standards, and material from certified forests is tracked all the way to the consumer through the chain of custody certification system.

In his role as Ambassador of The FSC, Jamie recently launched the Greenpeace Good Wood Guide and Joint Statement on illegal logging, in a call to halt illegal timber imports and encourage Australians to buy legally sourced timber. See www.goodwoodguide.org.au and www.saynotobadwood.org.au

www.fscaustralia.org

Earth Hour - a World Wildlife Fund initiative 

Ambassador, 1 Year

Earth Hour is an Australian initiative coordinated by the World Wildlife Fund. In 2007, 2.2 million people took part in the world's first Earth Hour in Sydney, Australia. Communities, businesses and governments were encouraged to switch off their lights for one hour in order to send a powerful global message to world leaders about climate change.

By 2008, 50 million people in 370 cities and towns, in more than 35 countries worldwide switched off their lights for Earth Hour. Earth Hour 2009 aimed to reach more than one billion people in 1000 cities around the world.

The United Nation’s Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen in December 2009 will create a post–Kyoto Protocol agreement to tackle climate change. Earth Hour 2009 aims to encourage world leaders to take a brave stand at this conference and agree to make deep cuts to greenhouse gas emissions.

Jamie is a 2009 Earth Hour Ambassador.

www.earthhour.org

Climate Friendly

carbon neutral for Financial year 2007/2008
 
In 2008, in addition to his role as a presenter for The Climate Project and an Ambassador for WWF’s Earth Hour, Jamie began working with Climate Friendly to further his commitment to tackling climate change in his own workplace. For the financial year 2007/2008, Jamie offset greenhouse gas emissions created by electricity, transport, freight and air travel associated with his businesses, with the highest level program – Gold Standard renewable energy carbon credits.

www.climatefriendly.com

Children’s Cancer Institute Australia for Medical Research   

Advocate, 8 years
 
The Children's Cancer Institute Australia for Medical Research (CCIA) is the only independent medical research institute in Australia dedicated to researching causes, prevention, better treatments and ultimately a cure for childhood cancer.
 
Every year more than 500 Australian children are diagnosed with cancer, and every week 3 Australian children die of cancer. The vision of the Children’s Cancer Institute is to save the lives of all children with cancer and eliminate their suffering.
 
Jamie regularly contributes his time to the organisation, hosting and attending charity events and raising awareness for the organisation.

www.ccia.org.au

Jamie’s carbon neutral commitment

Climate change report

Watch Jamie's report on climate change in the Arctic

Conservation report

Watch Jamie's conservation report on Lake Eyre
Hi Guys – read about my recent experiences and inspirations, including travelling to the Canadian Arctic and Lake Eyre for Channel 7's Sunday Night program
terms of use privacy policy site by harvestthe.net