Meet the member: Catherine Haar

Catherine Haar has been a member of Sustainable Macleod for 8 years and is the current vice-president. She has a particular interest and expertise in good governance. 

Catherine is a geologist turned public servant. She spent a number of years working in the coal mining sector, and then moved to critical minerals for renewables’ technology. Currently she works for the State Government providing assistance to the coal mine operators in the Latrobe Valley to help them achieve rehabilitation of the Gippsland mines. Governance forms a large part of what she does each day. 

Catherine has always had a strong interest in earth sciences, biology, ecology and archaeology. She is fascinated by the deep history of our planet and environment, and the small amount of time that humans have been living on the earth in contrast to this. However, despite this relatively small amount of time, humans have had a huge impact on the environment (including impacts from mining). This has shaped her thoughts about how to live sustainably as a society and minimise her footprint, and has driven her interest in her own garden as a source of food and biodiversity. She is very proud of her first pomegranate and almond harvests this year! Increasing the energy efficiency of her own home (she and her husband have made a number of changes over the last few years including adding solar panels, electric heat pump for hot water, draft proofing, insulation, and disconnecting from gas) has been significant for her and a huge learning experience. 

Catherine started classical ballet at a young age and continued this for 20 years. She had the privilege of dancing with a Russian dance troupe when younger. Now she also bellydances and has recently taken up flamenco dancing (and occasionally performs both), and is learning to play both zills (finger cymbals) and castanets. 

Catherine has a husband, Jonathan (he recently met some of the members at the bicycle maintenance workshop), two daughters, Maddie and Penny, who have spent a lot of time at the community garden over the years (the Easter Egg hunt is a favourite).The family also has a dog – Noodle the Groodle –  and five chickens to keep him company.