Austria
My subject for Austria is the activist and action climber, Jutta Matysek
Geography
The Republic of Austria is a landlocked East Alpine country in the southern part of Central Europe. It is composed of nine federated states , one of which is Vienna, Austria's capital and largest city. It is bordered by Germany to the northwest, the Czech Republic to the north, Slovakia to the northeast, Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the west. Austria occupies an area of 83,879 km2 (32,386 sq mi) and has a population of nearly 9 million people.
Source Wikipedia
Environmental issues
The primary environmental concerns in Austria is the impact of acid rain which has damaged 25% of the country's woodland. Loss of biodiversity and deforestation are also concerns
About Jutta
Jutta was part of the occupation of the Hainburger Au wetlands in1984 as a child, succesfully protesting against the building of a hydroelectric power plant. This was the start of the green party and organised environmentalism in Austria.
Jutta has worked for many NGOs for the environment and has been a Greenpeace activist and climber since 2007. Jutta is now a Greenpeace Action unit employee.
Jutta is a founding member and, for more than 14 years, chairwoman and spokeswoman of the citizens' initiative "Save Lobau - Nature instead of Concrete", which campaigns against the planned motorway projects through the national park Donau-Auen in northeastern Austria. She was a representative of the citizens' initiative in the environmental impact assessment. She believes passionately that we need to reduce concrete road building and car use in favour of less polluting mass transport solutions such as the train
Jutta makes radio programs on the environment, peace and human rights issues for Radio Orange, a non-commercial community radio station in Vienna.
To see the painting process and hear Jutta’s story please click on the link below