The flooding of Lake Pedder in the late 60s triggered a flood of public concern for the environment. Many of the key people involved in the campaign to save Lake Pedder decided that Tasmania needed a permanent environment centre where people could meet, have access to environmental resources, produce environmental information, submissions and other material, and communicate with the world at large. Ten sponsors pledged their support, each agreeing to pay 50c a week for the first year to sign a two-year lease on premises at 281 Elizabeth Street, North Hobart and the Tasmanian Environment Centre (known as the TEC) was born on 7 December 1972. From the very beginning TEC was a can-do organisation that remained non-political and kept its focus firmly on providing practical assistance to individuals and groups who wanted to learn more about the environment. As they have continued to do up until today, volunteers carried out a great deal of office, library research and information work. During the Whitlam era, the Centre received grants from the federal Government, enabling the establishment of the Environmental Resource Library and the production of books, and other media for sale and distribution. In January 1975 the Centre moved to the first floor of 102 Bathurst Street where it remained for 33 years. After the initial rush of excitement and organisation building of the early 70s the Centre settled down to operate as it was intended: a resource and meeting centre for community groups and the public. The Wilderness Society operated from Centre for the first few years of its life, and much of the work to save the Franklin River was undertaken at the Centre. Education has been a core activity of TEC since the 1980s when teachers, such as Helen Pryor, were employed to develop educational materials and activities for school children. The 1990s saw sustainability becoming the catch-cry of the environment movement. TEC begin to strengthen its links with other community groups and to collaborate with them in projects aimed at directly affecting our local environment. After the recruitment of Margaret Steadman as Director in August 1997, TEC began to focus more on urban sustainability issues.;;