When Moruya local Kathryn Maxwell was studying at university, she needed to seek departmental permission to cram many different faculties into one degree: geography, economics, history, politics and sociology.
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She was fascinated by them all, and wanted to understand how all these disciplines fitted together; to learn and apply them to the world she was observing. Ms Maxwell wasn't content to learn theory, she wanted to apply theory to life - theory with teeth - with real world implications.
This tertiary education was free, and it motivates Ms Maxwell's community involvement now.
Since she moved to the area in 2016, she has become president of the Southcoast Health and Sustainability Alliance (SHASA) as well as become involved in the SAGE farming project, South Coast Community Kitchen and an array of other community projects - cramming as many interdisciplinary community projects into her free time as possible
"Other people paid for my education through their taxes," Ms Maxwell said. "I'm actually giving back to those people.
"As a retiree, it's our time to give back to the community."
Last week, Ms Maxwell was highly commended for the Eurobodalla local hero awards 2022.
Ms Maxwell's mother was of the Silent Spring generation - influenced by Rachel Carson's novella to protest the thoughtless spraying of poisonous chemicals around American neighbourhoods in the 1960s.
When her mother moved to Australia, she was surprised to find the local council sprayed Deildrin everywhere annually to kill pesky ant colonies.
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"Every bird would die," Ms Maxwell said. "All the insects - everything that was living in the garden would die along with the ants."
Her mother started a petition to stop the spraying. Single-handedly, she took the petition to every residence in the shire. It took a year, but eventually the petition caused the council to stop spraying.
"I learnt two things," Ms Maxwell said. "If you see a problem, don't go into despair but remember one person can make a difference, and don't go it alone. Join like-minded people in groups."
Ms Maxwell has definitely not fallen into despair, and considers the work of SHASA "an exciting space".
She is a trained economist, having worked for local councils up and down the east coast of Australia, and for the Department of Conservation in New Zealand.
While there, Ms Maxwell helped increase the sustainability of conservation monitoring stations across the country.
Volunteers would travel to Codfish Island - an island south of New Zealand - to monitor the population of kakapo residing there. It is a precious, protected landscape, and one of a handful of biospheres suitable for the endangered bird. Volunteers would live in government diesel-powered huts: big barrels of diesel would be dropped from Navy planes to the station on the island, sometimes falling into the ocean, and always risking cracking and spilling petrol throughout the ecosystem.
This process set off alarm bells in Ms Maxwell's mind. She also noticed volunteers were frequently calling in sick - with recurring health problems caused by toxic coal fumes in their lungs from the generator.
"It's logical," she said, "there has to be a better way."
Ms Maxwell oversaw the installation of renewables to power the island, with positive impacts on the environment, human health and work productivity.
This logic first drew Ms Maxwell into the environmental sphere, and has kept her motivated to pioneer change ever since.
In the 1990s she wrote a report with the Conservation Council examining the effect of climate change on agriculture and tourism. Her focus was the economic implications of inaction: what a bleached Great Barrier Reef meant for tourism, what rising temperatures meant for food production. She has watched the prophetic script played out over thirty years.
She labels herself "an economist who loves the environment," but the two are intimately connected for her.
"Why wouldn't you do it?" she said about pursuing better environmental outcomes. "It has economic and health benefits - reducing the cost of living, and investing millions into the local community through local jobs."
For example, SHASA helped install solar panels onto the Moruya Women's Refuge, halving their electricity bill.
SHASA help other community groups apply for grants, with a 70 per cent success rate for receiving funding.
Currently, the group is investigating the feasibility of community-owned solar microgrids. They plan to run eight trials in different towns along the east coast.
Here, Ms Maxwell sees environmental needs intertwined with justice.
"The poor in clunkers [old cars] are the most impacted by rising fuel prices," she said.
"We don't want a two-tiered society where just the wealthy can afford electrical vehicles."
When she isn't darting around Moruya on her electric bike, Ms Maxwell drives a Nissan Leaf. A full charge costs $4 and can travel more than 250 kilometres
"We aren't asking people to go backwards," she said. "We are asking people to move forwards."
Everyone has a role to play, and Ms Maxwell said anyone could join SHASA.
"Just one little task is valuable," she said. "If you have a passion, we can use you."
The 60-year-old, has no intention of slowing down, and is still full of enthusiasm and passion.
"I have committed my retirement to the work of transitioning our community to a low carbon economy and building resilience to the changing climate at the same time," she said,
"I have the energy for it.
"I get back more than what I give. I'm richer for it.
"I am proud of what SHASA has achieved."