title: Alexandra de Blas
text: # Alexandra de Blas
  
  Alexandra de Blas (born 1965) is an Australian journalist and environmentalist who was awarded the 2003 3rd World Water Forum Journalists prize in Kyoto, Japan and the 2004 United Nations Association of Australia World Environment Day Award.
  
  She is best known as presenter of the ABC Radio National environment program Earthbeat. Since 2004, de Blas has been on the Editorial Advisory Board of CSIRO's Ecos magazine and currently runs an environment communications agency.
  
  ## Education and early life
  
  de Blas completed a Bachelor of Science degree at the University of Sydney in 1985 and later completed a Graduate Diploma in Environmental Studies (Hons) at the University of Tasmania in 1992. She spent several years working on a PhD in environmental communication at the University but returned to the ABC before it was completed.
  
  ## Career
  
  de Blas started work as a Rural Reporter for the ABC in Queensland. She later worked on the ABC Radio program 'The Country Hour,' reporting from Tasmania and Victoria.
  
  Controversy emerged in connection with de Blas' research into pollution from the Mt Lyell copper mine in Tasmania which she uncovered while researching her honours thesis in environmental studies at the University of Tasmania.
  
  The Mt Lyell Mine Co threatened the University of Tasmania with a defamation suit if the thesis was published and the University decided that the work was defamatory and should not be published.
  
  After two years of attempting to reverse the decision, de Blas took her thesis to the University of Technology where it was published by the Australian Centre for Independent Journalism.
  
  In 1997, de Blas was engaged as the Presenter/Producer for the Radio National environment program Earthbeat, a position she held until the program's demise in 2005. From 2005 to 2008 Alexandra worked at Bush Heritage Australia as their Communications Strategist.
  
  