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Frank Fitzgerald Ryan
Principal and Founder of Vox Bandicoot Pty Ltd
I met Frank at his colourful office in Kerr Street Fitzroy. Upstairs, the studio apartment is home to the operation of a leading environmental education company. Costumes are racked; posters pinned and two huge fans move the warm air around the space, making it a comfortable temperature. There on the notice board, I noticed a flyer showing Frank running as a Greens candidate representing Northcote in the state elections in the mid-nineties. He has been a resident of Northcote for many years; just a stone's throw from his childhood playground, the Darebin Creek.
We opt for a place in the sun at a cafe on Smith Street Collingwood, and over porridge and coffee we giggle and sigh. As an icebreaker Frank asks me, 'Who uses more energy? A vegetarian who drives a Hummer or a meat-eater who rides a bike?'
Frank is both an imposing figure and a friendly bear of a man. He towers over my five foot nothing, with a strong upright frame, a shaved head, an animated face and body that you can imagine spontaneously leaping on the table top and bursting into song. He can just as easily stop the hilarity, steady the conversation with a calm stillness and talk about his philosophy of equality and personal empowerment. His years of working with school kids, the business sector, and both State and Federal Governments, have centred on the message of empowerment and encouragement. You sense that he truly loves people and that they in turn are captivated by him. Like a bright shiny object he is animated - startling environmental facts and his invented catch phrases all wrapped up in an element of humour; you can't help being drawn in. Some of his catch phrases include: the Windshield Relationships with neighbours - all you do is wave; the Blue Volkswagen theory - you never see one until you buy one and then you see blue Volkswagens everywhere; Footprint Flab - how most of the western world lives; Gar-ba-toi-lau-ki - a way to remember the gradient of water use around the home, garden, bathroom, toilet, laundry and kitchen.
Frank Ryan has needed to be inventive, to make new words and play on words. It's his job to help communicate new ideas and actions in a climate we have never inhabited before.
The first big issue he communicated to the Victorian public was the plight of the Helmeted Honey-Eater the only endemic bird in this State - all other birds cross at least one state border. This golden crested, black masked bird was driven the brink of extinction - by habitat loss and predators such as cats and foxes. According to Professor Boyd Wykes, 'the species would not last through the winter of that year (1988).' Frank blew the whistle - he is that sort of guy - and, acting independently of his position as teacher at the Zoo School, wrote press releases and agitated on behalf of the bird's survival. 'I was appalled at the shameful normaleese about how another species would be pronounced as extinct.' He is credited with awakening public awareness through his efforts on ABC Radio and print media, and galvanising into action organisations like Healesville Sanctuary. Today a breeding program and habitat regeneration gives these birds an even chance; with thirteen more birds released into the wild by the Healesville Sanctuary in April 2009.
Frank's niche is agitating. When he came to naming his environmental theatre-in-education and consulting company with co-founder Steven Ray, he looked to the next most endangered animal - it was the Eastern Barred Bandicoot. Vox Bandicoot, voice of the bandicoot, was born.
Touring across Victoria with, initially, two theatre shows and reptiles for students to experience up-close, the arrival of Frank and Steve was a carnival of hilarity, interaction and engagement. The van would arrive at a school, blazoned with images of the rarely seen bandicoot, full of the tools, props and animals. Building a simulated bush environment, much like a cubby house, with a parachute over a frame, fresh eucalyptus branches, rocks, and leaves the students crawled into the space. There they would be introduced to a carpet python, a blue tongue lizard or a freshwater tortoise. Many urban children were seeing these animals for the first time.
The theatre shows were written for age specific groups, and were funny non-didactic and participatory, with serious messages that provided a springboard for teachers and educators. But what made all of this a magical experience? It was how Frank talks. He never made these young people feel anything other than important, special and smart. This audience knew he respected them, they enjoyed his silly humour, deliberate bad jokes; it was like he was one of them. The other actors who work with the company continue this philosophy, and it is a powerful communicating tool.
But back to the Windshield Relationship. The crowning glory of the Vox Bandicoot's 30 years work is Sustainability Street. Frank and the company have written a comprehensive workbook for communities - either geographical or like-minded individuals - to gather their resources and change neighbourhood relationships from Windshield Relationships to eating and meeting, drinking and thinking connections. Sustainability Street is giving people the opportunity to experience the Volkswagen Theory - other people think and feel the same way as me. Its core message is to reduce our Footprint Flab and change habits in energy use. Like the original school's program, people are inspired by the workbook's approach, so they can find their own way of incorporating the new ideas and action into their lives. Frank's humour and Gar-ba-toi-lau-ki gives them a chance to laugh at a silly new word, but also informs them how their water is used around the house.
Frank says, 'If it ain't fun it ain't sustainable. The shift (needs to change) from consuming stuff, to consuming relationships with other people.'.
With Frank sitting in his singlet over the last mouthfuls of porridge, that autumn sun, (can it burnt at 11 am?), our conversation turns serious as we contemplate the future.
'We can sink carbon and stop emitting it. What is not possible is to retrieve extinct species,' he says. 'Who uses more energy? A vegetarian who drives a Hummer or a meat-eater who rides a bike?' The answer opens up the question of how we focus the debate on action and energy use.
It is the meat-eater.
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