Simon Copland

18 May

A freelance writer, former Pedal Power director and lifelong David Bowie fan, Copland’s work spans two ecosystems — one virtual, one ecological — both under pressure, both shaped by power, politics and the stories we tell. When I sat down with him, he explained how these worlds, which appear wildly disconnected, are in fact part of the same conversation.

SEE Change: You've worked across environmental advocacy, research, writing, and digital culture. What first drew you to this kind of work in the first place?

Simon Copland: I have a passion for the environment and care for the environment. We can't live without a functioning environment. I'm aware that we cannot change things without significant changes to policy decisions at the structural level as well as how governments and businesses operate. So I got involved in campaigning because. If we want the big, systemic changes needed to protect our environment and climate change, we have to work at the level where those decisions are made.

What first got you interested in protecting nature?

I got interested when I was still in high school. I did outdoor education as part of my studies which meant spending a lot of time out in the ACT region — doing things like hiking, skiing, snorkelling, climbing, those kinds of things. Being out in those landscapes made me feel deeply connected to them, and it opened my eyes to how vulnerable they are.

At the same time, we had a lot of conversations about the destruction of the environment and climate change. It was the era of the Kyoto Protocol debates, and Al Gore’s film had just come out, so these issues were suddenly very visible. So just those two things together got me interested and concerned about these issues and made me want to do some research real work on it.

What does creating a nature-positive future mean to you? 

A lot of the work we do at the Conservation Council — and work I've done in the past — focuses on stopping bad things from happening. We spend a lot of time fighting off coal mines, blocking harmful developments, or trying to protect areas under threat. And that’s essential, of course. It’s frustrating that we still have to fight so many of those battles, because people continue to propose projects that would destroy vital ecosystems and worsen the climate crisis.

But I also think it’s important to look beyond just preventing harm. We need to ask: how do we create good things? How do we build a future where nature isn’t just surviving, but thriving? People connect strongly to hopeful, positive visions. If we want to grow people’s love for the environment, they need to be able to imagine a future where it’s flourishing.

And a really great example of this that we're working on at the Conservation Council, is a campaign to protect the western edge, which is an area to the west of Canberra that's under threat for development. It's a huge area — a really beautiful and important ecological area. We’re not only talking about stopping that development; we’re also working on what a proactive, positive environmental plan for the area could look like. That means regeneration, expanding the habitat, supporting farmers, and creating a landscape that’s healthier and more resilient than it is now.

What do you see as the biggest obstacles to creating a nature-positive future in Canberra and the surrounding region? 

I think the biggest obstacle we can face is the lack of imagination and visionary thinking from decision makers. A lot of that comes down to resources. The ACT government is in a budget crisis, so they often don't want to prioritize resourcing the environment because they don't see it as an immediate need. And that means that decision makers are really limited in what they can do to, to really implement something that is a visionary or forward thinking as it requires resources.

That’s a really important issues that needs to be dealt with. There needs to be greater resourcing for the management of our environment because the environment is essential. It's how we live and without it we will all suffer when it gets degraded, But governments often don't treat it with that level of urgency. So when we bring new ideas to the table, we hit barriers. People don’t have the imagination, or the willingness, to try something different.

You’ve mentioned a Territory-wide biodiversity network as a way to proactively protect ecologically significant areas. What might that look like in practice, and how could it make Canberra’s environment more resilient? 

The Biodiversity Network is a proposal to map the entire territory and identify all the areas that have biodiversity value and ensure that they're protected in some way or another. That can mean being part of the nature reserve or creating some new layer of protection for areas that might not go into a nature reserve but still have biodiversity values like roadsides, connective corridors, playgrounds and parks that have other uses. They may not be nature reserves, but they still have biodiversity value. Connectivity is key. Without it, we end up with isolated pockets of nature that can’t support long-term resilience.

Another key part of resilience goes back to the resourcing question about how do we resource nature? The management of those lands, and how we think about how the resources can change and adapt to a changing climate. The changing climate is going to have an impact on our nature and we have to resource properly, and having imaginative thinking so that people can be adaptive when the climate changes.

You’ve spent a lot of time researching online misogyny, extremism, and digital platforms. On the surface that seems quite different from environmental advocacy, but do you think there are parallels in the way unhealthy systems grow — and in how healthier ones can be built? 

Good question. I sometimes wonder about that myself, because I did my PhD on those topics and then returned to environmental campaigning. They can feel disconnected, but when I step back, I think they’re actually linked.

Part of the rise of extremist movements comes from people recognising they’re facing an uncertain future due to environmental and climate breakdown. That uncertainty can lead to extreme reactions. So in many cases, the root causes of these movements are tied to environmental decline.

We’re also seeing the emergence of extremist anti-nature groups — not so much in the ACT, but definitely in parts of Victoria and New South Wales. These groups react strongly against things like new nature reserves or restrictions on hunting native animals, framing them as attacks on their lifestyle. Many of these movements also overlap with or align very closely to the far right which has been becoming a growing challenge for environmental advocacy. It means we need to do more to highlight how much the vast majority of people genuinely care about nature and want it protected.

Another connection comes from the research I’ve done on extreme or hypermasculinity. In some of these communities, polluting industries or technologies are framed as “manly” — big cars, coal power plants, anything that's seen as manly. Environmentally friendly technologies, on the other hand, are often dismissed as weak or feminine. That dynamic is dangerous because it makes harder to talk about adopting new technologies or transitioning to cleaner systems. A lot of the resistance isn’t economic; it’s cultural.

So there are real links between these issues. We need to think carefully about how we communicate climate action and new technologies to people who are being influenced by these more extreme cultural narratives.

At the same time, digital platforms themselves have become unhealthy spaces. That’s largely due to the profit motives of major corporations. Platforms benefit from hosting hateful or inflammatory material because it drives to engagement. The root causes of that — profit over wellbeing — are very similar to the forces driving environmental destruction, where large fossil fuel companies benefit from harmful practices. Addressing those structural issues would help create both a healthier environment and a healthier online world.

How can local communities get involved in protecting biodiversity and creating more connected habitats? 

There's lots of things people can do. It depends on what kind of skills and energy people have, but I think that one of the best things you can do is go and get involved in your local environment group and get involved in a local campaign to protect areas that you love and to promote to your community the importance of nature and the importance of a healthy climate. That's really essential. We need to have strong campaigns and have lots of people doing lots of campaigns to really change how politics works and how politicians and decision-makers are thinking and decision makers are thinking. And so I think getting involved in that is really important.

A lot of people also prefer more hands‑on work, and that’s just as valuable. Organisations like SEE‑Change, the Canberra Environment Centre, or local Landcare groups are always looking for volunteers. It’s incredibly motivating to work on a patch of land and actually see it improve — to see a nature‑positive outcome take shape in front of you.

Going out on a Saturday or Sunday morning to help with planting, weeding or restoration work makes a real difference. It strengthens your local environment, but it also contributes to the broader ecological health of the region. Those small, local actions add up.

I saw you’re a big David Bowie fan. Has music or creativity ever shaped the way you think about activism or the future? 

I absolutely love David Bowie. I've loved him since I was a teenager, and I still listen to his music all the time. It’s been just over 10 years ago now when he died, and I was pretty devastated when it happened.

I love music and it follows me wherever I go. I'm always listening to something and trying new things. I think it's just part of the kind of cultural fabric of our lives. It’s such an important part of everything that we do. I love having it as the background to my life — it keeps me inspired and grounded.

SEE Change Admin