SEE Change is a grass-roots sustainability organisation based in Canberra. We are focused on making beneficial changes to our Society, Environment and Economy (SEE) in order to live more sustainably.

Formed in 2008, SEE Change delivers sustainability information, activities and programs through its volunteer-led SEE Change groups. We encourage people to take practical action to create a more sustainable city. The work of our volunteer groups is supported by part time staff in our office at the Downer Community Centre. Volunteers are members of SEE Change. 

Projects and Services

SEE Change offer a wide range of projects, activities and services. Here’s a snapshot of some of our regular events.

• Sustainable house tours

• The Canberra Electric Bike Library

• Roving Regenerators

• The Community Toolbox Canberra

• Repair and mending cafes

• Biodiversity education and parkland regeneration

• Waste reduction activities

We also offer a range of volunteering and university intern positions at the SEE Change office.

Neil Williams

Board Chair

Neil is a retired public servant, where he held various senior executive roles advising on science and innovation, industry policy, infrastructure, drought policy and the Indigenous business sector. Since retiring in 2020 Neil has sought to utilise his skills to give back to the Canberra community. As well as being Chair of the SEE Change Board, Neil is a volunteer community driver, the President of the Canberra Organic Growers Society and is a member of the Finance and Governance Committee for the Commonwealth National Parks Conservation Trust. Neil’s passions include cooking the organic vegetables his wife grows and bushwalking, including completing the Overland Track in Tasmania in 2022.

Charlie Stephenson

Board Member

Charlie works in ACT Government leading the development of a strategic infrastructure program for Environment, Heritage and Water Division. He has extensive leadership experience through his previous career in Defence, with expertise in strategic planning, program management, operations and strategic communications. As well as his Board role with SEE Change, Charlie supports a number of other volunteer roles including board member for People With Disabilities WA, grant writer for an environmental charity in Sydney (The Bower) and working in his local community park in Bragg St, Hackett. Following his new-found passion for the environment, Charlie is also a post grad student at Charles Sturt University studying Environmental Management. In his spare time, Charlie loves a spot of yoga, bushwalking with his family, or mountain biking in Majura Pines. He is also a passionate carer of his native garden.  

Heidi O’Brien

BOARD MEMBER

Heidi is an engineering leader with close to two decades of experience in business development and project management. She is passionate about discovering and sharing ideas for innovative technology and business models that can support the transformation to a sustainable way of life. Heidi is currently studying a Masters of Sustainability. She loves to spend time in her garden, striving to improve the soil in her little patch of earth.

Our Staff

Paula Mance

Executive Director

Paula joined SEE Change as the Executive Director in February 2023.  Previously she worked in the Australian Government and ACT/NSW Community sectors in various research, policy and executive roles. 

Her first and ongoing passion has always been the environment having completed a Bachelor of Science (Botany) and Laws (Environmental) in the 1990s.  She completed a Masters of Arts (Demography) in 2004 and a Diploma of Sustainable Living at UTas in 2024.

Her busy life includes looking after a permaculture garden, caring for injured wildlife, and the menagerie of animals that live on Themeda Farm, a beautiful sanctuary on the banks of the Murrumbidgee.

Aoibhinn Crimmins

Project Officer

Aoibhinn helps manage SEE Change's E-bike Library, Roving Regenerators program and general operations. She is in her final year of a double bachelors degree in science, majoring in environmental and climate science, and politics, philosophy and economics, at the ANU. Having grown up in Canberra, Aoibhinn has been involved in local sustainability and community building efforts since she was in school, most notably in her role organising the 2019 global school strikes for climate here in Canberra and Australia. Aoibhinn is passionate about many things but especially "climate justice", the idea that climate change can and should be addressed in a way which remedies global injustice and completely transforms our world for the better. 

Peter Le Cornu

Secretary

Peter is a retired teacher and a former CEO of a national charity. He is convenor of the See-Change WasteLess group and coordinates the electric bike bulk buy. He is keen on growing vegetables, walking and using his electric bike.

Deepak Poria

Board Member

Deepak is a technology leader, who has built automation systems in the government, healthcare, wealth management and retail banking domains to achieve rapid organic and acquisition growth. A career spanning over 21 years identifying the business needs, defining the strategy and approach, and developing a user driver product strategy and roadmap in the Software as a Services (SaaS) environment. He has been working towards going carbon neutral with the upgrades of his home to renewable energy and was one of the early adopters during the EV wave. He along with his two boys created a project called "Project TakeBK - Take back our planet one step at a time" where the objective is to educate as many people as possible about recycling and sustainability to drive change at the community level.

Sarah Stonnill

Senior Policy and project officer

Sarah is a senior policy and project officer at SEE-Change. Her previous roles have encompassed designing and managing volunteer supported projects in the environmental and community sectors. Sarah's rural background, together with a Bachelor of Horticulture have stemmed her appreciation of the natural environment and her enthusiasm to empower the local community to prevent biodiversity loss and to value our surrounds. She is committed to continuing to help the community come together to strengthen ties, foster sustainable living and remove the roadblocks for change.

Mia Chahoud

PRoject Officer

Mia is currently studying Environment and Sustainability at ANU, majoring in sustainability studies. She loves bushwalks, the beach, learning about new ways of living sustainably, and uni when it involves fieldwork. Her dream is to own a solar passive house with a big veggie garden and chickens.

Mark Spain

Treasurer

Mark works in designing and hosting leadership development programs for business, government and the community. His purpose is to cultivate the conditions for life to thrive. He's also involved in action learning projects hospicing the death of the old economy and midwifing the birth of the new economy.

Amy Carrad

Board Member

Amy's paid work is as a researcher in ARCHE | Australian Research Centre for Health Equity, in the School of Regulation and Global Governance (RegNet) at ANU. Amy is particularly passionate about food systems, incorporating this into her research as well as her extracurricular activities and advocacy. Amy is currently secretary of Young Farmers Connect and a member of their strategic working group, a member of the Australian Food Sovereignty Alliance and was involved in their Peoples’ Food Plan working group, a member of the the Right to Food Coalition, and is known in her office as the "Waste Warrior".

Mackenzie Martin

Project Officer

Mackenzie is the project officer managing the SEE Change electric bike library. She is currently studying astrophysics at ANU, with a focus on planetary and environmental science. Growing up around bikes, Mackenzie is keenly aware of the importance of accessible emissions-free travel. In their spare time, they enjoy reading, camping, and spending time with their cat, Calvin.