A Newcastle environmental campaigner has been described as a man who spent the last ten years of his life trying to change the world for the better.

30-year-old Peter Gray died over the weekend after several years suffering from bowel cancer.

Mr Gray made headlines last year when he threw his shoes at the former Prime Minister John Howard during the ABC's Q and A program.

Newcastle Greens councillor Michael Osborne says his friend was passionate about the environment and dedicated his life to protecting it.

"The last ten years or more he put a lot of his time into stopping the logging of old growth forests or to highlight a cause that he's passionate about," he said.

"I guess when other people of his generation were buying things that were the latest fad or trying to get up the corporate ladder, Pete was putting his time into trying to change the world for the better.

Councillor Osbourne says although Mr Gray became notorious over the shoe-throwing incident, his many achievements included taking on the State Government over the environmental assessment for the Upper Hunter's Anvil Hill coal mine.

"He took the Planning Minister to court and won and that's now embedded in our environmental assessment processes," he said.

"So I think that's a significant change he's made quite apart from stopping the logging of old growth forests around here and you know highlighting issues that are concerns for a lot of people.

"He stood up and did what needed to be done."