Posted in Research by Kate Archdeacon on March 15th, 2010
Source: Green Building Council Australia (GBCA)
Image: basibanget via flickr CC
By 2041, Australia’s cities will experience significant increases in traffic congestion, people will spend more time travelling and cars will generate more greenhouse gas emissions, a new study has found.
Cities for the future: Baseline report and key issues, commissioned by the Australian Sustainable Built Environment Council (ASBEC), was released at Green Cities 2010 in Melbourne.
The report points to a bleak future where transport-related greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) increase by almost 50 per cent and travel times increase by quarter. “Under a business as usual approach, our urban centres will become more transport intensive and less transport efficient. Congestion will worsen, travel times become longer and transport-related GHG increase,” says ASBEC President, Tom Roper.
“The report is a clarion call to our federal, state and local governments that swift, decisive action is required to deliver better transport systems in Australia’s cities,” Mr Roper says. According to Romilly Madew, Chief Executive of the Green Building Council Australia and task group chair, the analysis “clearly shows that, without action to change the way people live, work and play in our cities, our transport challenges will only get worse.”
Cities for the future is the first part of a four stage project which aims to explore and measure the links between greenhouse gas emissions from urban transport and land use within our cities.
“This report has found that the shape of our cities and the distribution of land uses can influence transport and therefore emissions. However, in raising sustainability and reducing emissions, we are likely to realise other tangible benefits, such as healthier communities, more accessible services, appropriate responses to demographic change, and more efficient use of land and infrastructure,” Ms Madew explains.
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Posted in Events by Kate Archdeacon on March 12th, 2010
Source: Climate Action Centre
Visit the website for more details.
Posted in Events by Kate Archdeacon on March 11th, 2010
Source: Going Solar Transport Newsletter
Behaviour Change Symposium – Tackling Climate Change with Behaviour Change
What works? What doesn’t work?What is the best way of nurturing sustainability focused practices in your community? Hear expert presenters providing insights and sharing their experiences of working in the field of behaviour change for sustainability. Keynote Speaker Caitlin Scott will discuss her recent research into sustainability-focused behaviour change. This will be followed by a several short presentations by guest practitioners, providing overviews of a range of specific behaviour change programs. The Symposium will conclude with a Q & A Panel and open mike session.
The Symposium is intended for sustainability focused behaviour change practitioners, and anyone else who is interested in finding out more about the latest theories and practices in this exciting field. This is also a great opportunity to network and engage in discussion with presenters and other participants.
Cost: $15 per head. Refreshments provided. Bookings essential.
Bookings and more information go to www.ceres.org.au/zecbehaviourchange, phone 9387 2609, or email david@ceres.org.au
Thursday March 18, 5 – 8pm
Posted in Events by Kate Archdeacon on March 11th, 2010
Visit the website for more details.
Posted in Events by Kate Archdeacon on March 10th, 2010
Image: woodleywonderworks via flickr CC
Got too many lemons? Over-run with parsley but no sweet basil in sight? If only you could swap all those olives for tomatoes! Well now you can!
As part of this year’s Melbourne Food and Wine Festival, CERES Urban Orchard, Yarra Neighbourhood Orchard and Cultivating Community are hosting what we’ve called “The World’s Biggest Eva Vegie Swap” with the hope that veggie gardeners from across this wide, brown city will bring along an abundance of gorgeous backyard produce and show Melbourne town what veggie swapping is all about!
This phenomenon has been sweeping Victoria, Australia and the world as folks realise the galaxy of potential that’s in our backyards and how easy and fun it is to get together and swap food – So bring along your vegies, herbs, seeds, seedlings, cuttings, preserves, recipes etc and see how it’s done – you might even get one going in your community!
When and where? Saturday 13th March
City Square, corner Collins & Swanston Street 10am – 2pm
Posted in Events by Kate Archdeacon on March 10th, 2010
Image: see-ming lee via flickr CC
The EcoCity Forums provide the community with an opportunity to learn about Melbourne City Council’s sustainability programs and find out what you can do at home to reduce your ecological footprint.
More than 70 per cent of residents in the City of Melbourne municipality live in apartments. Overall, residents account for 22 per cent of the municipality’s water consumption, 7 per cent of greenhouse gas emissions, and more than 14,000 tonnes of waste sent to landfill each year. The session will provide information to residents, especially apartment-dwellers, about how they can reduce their everyday environmental impact. The community will learn how sustainability programs from the City of Melbourne and other organisations can be applied to apartments. Residents are also encouraged to share stories of ‘green’ features they have created within their homes.
Presenters include:
* Glenn Howard, Director, h2ouse environmental plumbing consultants
* Matt Williams, Sustainable Design consultant
* Esther Bailey, Enact Energy
* Dorothy LeClaire, Melbourne Inner City Management (MICM)
* Alex Fearnside, Sustainability, City of Melbourne
Thursday 18 March, 7pm – 9pm
Services and providers’ products on display. Sustainable door prizes. RSVP: by Mon 15 Mar ecocityforum@melbourne.vic.gov.au
Councillor Cathy Oke, Future Melbourne (Eco-City) Committee chair will host the session.
Posted in Movements by Kate Archdeacon on March 9th, 2010
Source: Melbourne Community Farmers’ Markets
March 2010 Newsletter:
At last a little Autumnal respite from the heat and humidity of the last few months…now some gentle rain but not too much to affect grape ripening and soft fruits in season. Every season has it’s sensitive balances; when one variety needs a particular set of conditions, sure enough the next needs just the opposite.
So make the most of the most prolific time of year while we’re spoilt by it; stone fruit is sensational, berries are in with a vengeance, the quality of early apples is superb and the variety and quantity of tomatoes is staggering! On that note, the Kennedy family from Corop are back with their roma tomatoes for sauce and bottling at just two markets this year – Sat 6 Veg Out & Sat 20 Gasworks.10 kilo boxes are just $12 or $10 for over 5. Call Pat to order on 5484 8293.
Also at Veg Out will be Rippon Lea Estate having a stall with heritage apple tree display and sales. It’s leading up to the Open Day in Elsternwick on 14th March. That’s two weeks before Petty’s Orchard Open Day in Templestowe on the 28th. It may seem surprising that these two orchards are in the inner ‘burbs but not so long ago, before the sea of housing estates gobbled up farmland, there were many more. Melbourne itself, of course, was sensibly sited with easy proximity to the productive land. Makes you question the sense of all that housing sprawl now right on top of it as we have to bring food to the city from further and further afield…
In triumphs of the month, the fabulous Holy Goat Cheese and Gundowring Icecream have done it again at the Sydney Royal Cheese and Dairy Produce Show and walked away with Champion Cheese and Icecream respectiveley. Congrats also to Berry’s Creek (who are joining us from this month at Gasworks) for three gold medal blues and Boosey Creek for a swag of silverware.
The current Newsletter can be downloaded from our website in PDF format.
Posted in Events by Kate Archdeacon on March 9th, 2010
Image: WAW 2009 Exhibition Panels via issuu
The planning & design of next generation living – WAW2009: World Architecture Workshop
Since 2002 the World Architecture Workshop has undertaken interrogation through design in cities around the world. In 2009 the workshop turned its attention to the urbanism of population bursts in the context of water based city expansion in Lianyungang, China. Seven groups each obtaining students from Australia, China, France, and Japan produced projects which address global warming, complexity in the instant city, diversification of traffic systems and the merging of salt and fresh water systems and urban design strategies for the city. Given China’s current rate of urbanisation the projects go on to propose engagement with primary industries as employment generators for recently re-located populations from rural areas. Massive population increase raises questions of identity for a city. The projects thus treat the histories of the city as building blocks for designing new identities for Lianyungang to guide it through the shifts, growth and iterations of change that its extraordinary ambition will bring.
Participating Universities:
-Miyagi University Japan
-Nanjing Forestry University, China
-RMIT University, Australia
-Sanjiang University, China
-Tohoku Institute of Technology, Japan
-Tohoku University, Japan
-l’Ecole Nationale Superieure d’Architecture de Montpellier, France
Date: Tuesday, March 9, 2010 Time: 5:00pm – 7:00pm
Location: Foyer Gallery, Level 11, RMIT Building 8, 360 Swanston Street, Melbourne
Refreshments provided.
Posted in Seeking by Kate Archdeacon on March 9th, 2010
The ERSCP-EMSU 2010 conference, ‘Knowledge Collaboration & Learning for Sustainable Innovation’, will take place in Delft, the Netherlands, on 25-29 October 2010. Representatives of academia, business, government, NGOs and civil society organizations are very much invited to submit abstracts for (1) paper presentations or (2) poster presentations, as well as proposals for (3) discussion workshops/roundtables or (4) paper sessions that are within the Conference’s scope or themes.
The conference themes are:
1. Sustainable Universities and Higher Education
2. Knowledge Collaboration for Sustainable Innovation, Design, Business & CSR
3. Sustainable Consumption and Production
4. Climate, Energy, Water
5. Sustainable Cities and Regions
6. Sustainable Consumption, Production and Innovation in Developing Countries
All paper and poster abstracts can be submitted online at http://www.erscp-emsu2010.org/submissions until March 20, 2010. Full papers are due on September 1, 2010. More information can be found in the call and on the website. The organising committee can be contacted at conference@erscp-emsu2010.org.
Confirmed opening key notes include prof Tim Jackson, University of Surrey and prof Wubbo Ockels, Delft University of Technology. The conference is a joint effort by TU Delft, TNO and The Hague University of Applied Sciences.
Posted in Events by meggshp on March 4th, 2010
This event is a major fundraiser for the Heritage Fruits Society Inc. We are working to save heritage fruit varieties & have many residing at the Petty’s Orchard site at Templestowe. Come along for a great day of apple tasting & fun with a special performance by Peter Combe, Australian icon, produce stalls, great food, information from CERES, Slow Food Australia & Parks Victoria. The site is 4km from Templestowe train station. We encourage folks to cycle the Yarra Trail to the site or put your bike on the train… Parking is available if you must bring your car. Please remember to bring your picnic rug, hat & sunscreen, water bottles & friends! Folks wishing to join the Permablitz will need to register on their website www.permablitz.net before coming.
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