Vivienne Elanta

Vivienne Heloise Elanta (22 June 1951 – 16 August 2004) was a Western Australian environmental activist.

Born in Germany, Elanta was the eldest of Gertraud Adler and Robert Neuman's five children. She had just six years of schooling. At an early age she moved with her family to Monrovia, Liberia, where her parents managed a rubber plantation, and there was no schooling available until she was nine.

She was thirteen when they moved to Johannesburg, South Africa, and for eight years, from the age of 15 she worked without pay on her parents' farms - including one in northern New South Wales, where her family emigrated in 1972. She raised her daughter, in great difficulty, for the first five years as a single parent.

Vivienne Elanta did more than 20 personal development courses, and her partner John Croft, commented, "I found it amazing the way she transformed herself from being a victim and coming eventually to see her difficult childhood as something that equipped her to have special insight into the lives of people less fortunate than herself."

Elanta had a keen interest in environmental causes and discovered the deep ecology work of Joanna Macy and John Seed, which gives priority to the biosphere in the use of resources. "She didn't feel she had a purpose until she discovered deep ecology. Her purpose then was to make people aware of our part in something much older and deeper than themselves".

In 1986 with her partner John Croft she co-founded the Gaia Foundation of Australia, which was inspired by the Gaia hypothesis of James Lovelock and Lynn Margulis, and this became Elanta's vehicle for non violent activism. Its goals were personal growth, strengthening the community and service to the Earth. It has now more than 100 members and has conducted over 600 projects.

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