FREE PUBLIC LECTURE WITH PETER HARPER FROM CENTRE FOR ALTERNATIVE TECHNOLOGY (CAT), UNITED KINGDOM

Responding to the threat of climate change, governments have set targets for reducing greenhouse gas by 60-80% over the next 40 years. Recent climate science suggests this is nowhere near enough. A 100% reduction in 20 years might be necessary. Is this remotely possible? How might it be done? What technologies would we need? How would we design a zero-carbon – modern - economy? What impact would it have on lifestyles – on food, travel, housing, infrastructure, employment, leisure? Would it be a nightmare? Does it offer opportunities for a revitalisation of society?

30 years of living investigation at the Centre for Alternative Technology (CAT) in Wales may provide the answers the world urgently needs. (www.cat.org.uk)

Peter Harper has been part of a team working on these questions at CAT. He can bring an unusual lifetime of experience to illuminating the vigorous debate around a new vision for ‘Zero Carbon Britain’ 2020. Peter Harper is Head of Research and Innovation at the Centre for Alternative Technology, where he has worked for 25 years, with periodic secondments to overseas universities. He was a pioneer of the alternative technology movement and has always tried to relate technological ‘hardware’ with social and personal ‘software’. His main interests have been in horticulture and low-carbon lifestyles. He runs his own home as an experimental ‘lifestyle lab’. He is mildly obsessed by compost.

6-8pm, 21 April 2008 at the Prince Philip Theatre, University of Melbourne. Please RSVP your attendance to Ferne Edwards at fedwards @unimelb.edu.au. More information will be published shortly.

Map of the campus

FREE PUBLIC LECTURE WITH PETER HARPER FROM CENTRE FOR ALTERNATIVE TECHNOLOGY (CAT), UNITED KINGDOM

Responding to the threat of climate change, governments have set targets for reducing greenhouse gas by 60-80% over the next 40 years. Recent climate science suggests this is nowhere near enough. A 100% reduction in 20 years might be necessary. Is this remotely possible? How might it be done? What technologies would we need? How would we design a zero-carbon – modern - economy? What impact would it have on lifestyles – on food, travel, housing, infrastructure, employment, leisure? Would it be a nightmare? Does it offer opportunities for a revitalisation of society?

30 years of living investigation at the Centre for Alternative Technology (CAT) in Wales may provide the answers the world urgently needs. (www.cat.org.uk)

Peter Harper has been part of a team working on these questions at CAT. He can bring an unusual lifetime of experience to illuminating the vigorous debate around a new vision for ‘Zero Carbon Britain’ 2020. Peter Harper is Head of Research and Innovation at the Centre for Alternative Technology, where he has worked for 25 years, with periodic secondments to overseas universities. He was a pioneer of the alternative technology movement and has always tried to relate technological ‘hardware’ with social and personal ‘software’. His main interests have been in horticulture and low-carbon lifestyles. He runs his own home as an experimental ‘lifestyle lab’. He is mildly obsessed by compost.

6-8pm, 21 April 2008 at the Prince Philip Theatre, University of Melbourne. Please RSVP your attendance to Ferne Edwards at fedwards @unimelb.edu.au. More information will be published shortly.

Ever wondered how to get a foot in the door of the environmental industry? What qualities and qualifications employers are looking for? Where to go for this kind of advice???
Join us for an hour of presentations, group discussion, and Q&A time with recruitment and career professionals from the environmental sector. The session will offer insights into the Australian environmental jobs market, along with more detailed strategies to successfully develop your own career.

When: 8th April 2008 6.15pm - 8pm
Where: Meeting Room A, State Wide Resource Centre, 150 Palmerston St, Carlton
Public transport: Tram No 1, 8 Getting off at Elgin St
Cost: $44 inclusive of GST
Go to http://www.environmentaljobs.com.au/events_db/view.php?job_ID=449 to book online

OR 14th May 2008 6.15pm - 8pm
Where: R&I RESEARCH LOUNGE, RMIT Building 28, Level 5
Public Transport: Melbourne Central Trains and Swanston Street Trams.
Cost: $44 inclusive of GST
Go to http://www.environmentaljobs.com.au/events_db/view.php?job_ID=459 to book online

As part of the recent Sustainable Cities Round Table on Mobility, 17 March, our sponsors, GAMUT - The Australasian Centre for the Governance And Management of Urban Transport led a discussion with four questions about sustainable transport issues for our cities. Please find a list of the audience’s responses below. Please note: That as these questions were handwritten some of the responses were too difficult to read.

DISCUSSION QUESTION 4. How can we govern transport better?
better land planning to strategically reserve land for best future transport use
give governance to people who know about issues rather than those who can market themselves
metropolitan agency which provides a forum for local governments to collaborate and coordinate land-use and transport integration
emphasis needs to be taken away from road funding and put back onto public transport networks
funding targeting
organizations competing against each other
look into best practice round the world to a better balanced system
implement this better balanced system that balances public and private transport needs
each transport provides (public or private) to be compelled to show, as a means of assessing performance, full integration with all other agencies providing transport
greater involvement of academics, researchers, organizations like GAMUT in the decision-making ie. they are part of the governance
implement, scheme of kilometre credits
ration personal kilometres
buy kms on an open regulated market (ie. 100 km per person per week)
reduce conflict between drivers & nondrivers
align goals of various departments like VicRoads & DOI
severly punish high consuming and emitting mode – via carbon tax, access restriction, etc.
investment in the appropriate infrastructure which may mean redesigning train stations
better governance of private operators
better bike lanes
same funding for cyclists as for divers including safety and marketing
restructure transport governance at all levels to best practice systems
review the current governance of roads and infrastructure and look at a state level of integrating VicRoads & DOI
one department to manage all transport opinions and public transport, roads, cycling, waking = rather than VicRoads and DOI currently pushing their own, imbalanced agendas
de-privatising public transport would also likely provide for a better integrated system
one cohesive “public” organization that covers and manages and handles the “future” of PT rather than DOI and VicRoads and minister
study of cities that are successful and efficient PT and follow or better
survey households to identify what PT is needed and where it should go
let the community help plan the system
freight delivers out of hours trams for freight (?)
more tax on oil

As part of the recent Sustainable Cities Round Table on Mobility, 17 March, our sponsors, GAMUT - The Australasian Centre for the Governance And Management of Urban Transport led a discussion with four questions about sustainable transport issues for our cities. Please find a list of the audience’s responses below. Please note: That as these questions were handwritten some of the responses were too difficult to read.

DISCUSSION QUESTION 3. How can creative designers help solve mobility and accessibility problems?
urban villages connected by sustainable transit corridors
Map activities for access & situation (?)
playing urban tag
study skateboarders
elect a large community to go without cars for a month & have them redesign their area
transfer all outer urban residential development to urban hub-cities-centres. These hubs to become social centres but the confluence of a transport network. Establish areas ASAP then de-regulate so more effective market solutions can evolve but with simple not negotiable urban design rules.
Creating a design brief for human powered/ electic assist ultra-light vehicles that can transport children, shopping, etc.
Making street scapes more aesthetic & enticing to use. Connecting walking paths with transport.
Complete communities – growth & redevelopment. Live/ work/ play locally.
Targeted education – Portland OR example of household specific info + cycle education from doorstep
infrastructure networks established for ped/ bike/ PT
rethink the relationship between people & places they want to access, & design for the experience without relying on existing infrastructure
to mandate that large transport projects be planned together by representatives from public transport (rail, tram, bus, ferry) and human-powered forms. Public community consultation to be broadened as part of the process.
We all need to speak the world around to change. Everyone is creative and tapping into they way they think and what is important in their world. There is no ‘solver’ of ‘problems’ there in only tempting people to turn their heads and be a part of a liveable future
Education: in the manner of ANZSOG education of the public service & therefore specifically educating government transport planners and designers.
Consider disabled people, deaf people and blind people in planning
Copenhagen bicycle lanes more widely adopted & re-designed atteractively to encourage even more use
Design in the absence of design
Stop designing & start coordinating
Function over form
Flexible environments
Design as leadership
Engage artists in planning process – work is a cross disciplinary fashion at the onset of a project to explore all options/ alternatives. We need radical, left-of-centre thinking here!
Develop a hierarchy of ‘give way’ similar to oceans. Large gives way to all small.
Design for people first. Then people on bikes second. Then up the scale.
Design mobility and accessability r/s/ schools and communities understanding rel/ people build form technology
Role of symbolism car – what it represents to us. Is it a symbol of freedom and an extension of our identity, something to aspire t or a serious threat to our sustainability?

Alice Woodruff, from the Walking & Cycling division of the Department of Infrastructure spoke at the recent Sustainable Cities Round Table on “Changing the way we travel”. To find out more about the DOI’s transport projects visit: http://www.doi.vic.gov.au/doi/. Please find footage of Alice’s presentation below.

Also speaking at the recent Sustainable Cities Round Table on Mobility, 17 March 2008, was Paul McKay, a Cyclovia Consultant, whose talk was titled “Cyclovia”. Cyclovia is described on http://www.cyclovia.org/ as Life to the street! The website reads: “Imagine roads with barely a car insight and people of all ages walking, cycling, rollerblading or pushing a pram. That is a Cyclovia. During a Cyclovia, cars are not allowed to drive along the selected road but are still able to cross at designated intersections. The first Cyclovia in Australia was held on 28 May 2006 in Moreland, Victoria. Over 5,000 participants attended this great day.”

Please find footage and the powerpoint slides from Paul McKay’s presentation below.

Cyclovia powerpoint

Saturday April 5: 11am - 7pm
Port Phillip EcoCentre, Cnr Herbert and Blessington Street, St Kilda

The urban environment presents unique challenges to planning for sustainable living, food production and transport. Hear our three panels of speakers address these themes in the local context to educate you about some of the issues and present some solutions. The event opens with an indigenous welcome, a brief from the City of Port Phillip on their local Community Pulse program and a tour of the Port Phillip EcoCentre, followed by our first panel session on local food production and food sustainability issues.

Then share a hearty Mexican lunch, browse over our free community and campaign stalls, listen to some local musicians and be part of the local launch of the new book ‘Climate Code Red’ by David Spratt and Phillip Sutton. This very timely publication is an initiative of Greenleap, CarbonEquity and Friends of the Earth.

We will then return to hear panel discussions on sustainable transport and urban planning. Then stay around after 5pm and be part of the Engage Media and Plug-in TV short documentary screenings.

Panel speakers include:
- Ben Neil (Cultivating Community);
- Bob Phelps (Gene Ethics)
- a speaker from ‘Lentil as Anything’
- Frank Fisher (Undertandascope)
- Elliot Fishman (Institute for Sensible Transport)
- Kerryn Wilmot (Public Transport Users Assoc)
- Anna Griffiths (unChain St Kilda)
- Bridget Puszka (BP Architects) and other speakers still to be confirmed. These speakers address issues and present a vision for what a sustainable urban future might look like with specific reference to local issues, policy and development.

Visit www.melbournesocialforum.org for a full program and speaker listing. Entry by gold coin donation. Want hold a free stall at our event? Email stalls @melbournesocialforum.org.

Organised by Melbourne Social Forum and supported by Port Phillip EcoCentre. For more information contact info @melbournesocialforum.org or www.melbournesocialforum.org.

Directions on how to get there: The Port Phillip EcoCentre www.ecocentre.com is located on the corner of Herbert and Blessington Sts, (Melway ref. 58 B11) on the corner of St Kilda Botanic Gardens.

Public transport: Take the 96 Tram to St Kilda. It stops at the corner of Barkley St and Acland St. At end of Acland St and walk 100 metres and you will see a 7-11 on the corner. Then turn left, up Blessington St, walk 100 metres until you come to the EcoCentre. Look for the Melbourne Social Forum banner out the front.

The Sustainable Cities Round Table - Mobility was held recently on Monday, 17 March, at the University of Melbourne. Proudly supported by GAMUT - The Australasian Centre for the Governance And Management of Urban Transport and organised by SustainableMelbourne.com and the Victorian Eco-Innovation Lab (VEIL) the evening was full of speakers from a variety of backgrounds and projects across the sustainable transport spectrum. The evening was professionally filmed by Ryan Spanger from Dream Engine Productions and footage of the event is published here on SustainableMelbourne.com.

Speakers included:
Dr John Grant, JA Grant & Assoc., “Walking to a more sustainable future - Solvitur Ambulando”
Paul McKay, Cyclovia Consultant, “Cyclovia”
Marie Watt, Photographic Artist, “The power of spin”
Steven Ingrouille, Principal, Going Solar, “Introducing innovative & cost-effective transit technologies”
Dr Patrick Moriarty, GAMUT Partner, “The wearing of the green”
Alice Woodruff, Walking & Cycling, Department of Infrastructure, “Changing the way we travel”
Daniel Epstein, Managing Director, “Conservo & Sustainiversity”
David Fewchuk, Chairman Aurora Vehicle Assoc. Inc., “Travelling on the Sun”
Bill Bretherton, Human Powered Cycles, “Asylum seekers, sustainability & cycling as transport”
Bruce Herbes, Wayfinding Consultant, “Making the City Legible”
Dianne Moy, VEIL, & Kathleen Turner, Architect student, SKM/ University of Melbourne, “Mobility & the Extended School System 2032”

Other features of the evening included drumming by Mathew Apted and a photography exhibition by Marie Watt. Assoc. Prof. Nick Low from GAMUT, the sponsors of the event, led a discussion on sustainable transport futures - responses have also been posted on SustainableMelbourne.com.

We would like to thank the sponsors, presenters, muscian, artist and everyone who was involved - it was a great evening!

Prof. Chris Ryan and Ferne Edwards from VEIL introduced the event. See footage of their presentations below.

Come and join us at the next event held on Wednesday the 2nd of April. Melbourne Sustainability Drinks is a non sponsored event, held on the first Wednesday of every month in the Melbourne CBD.

The aim of this event is to provide a forum for professionals working in various parts of the “sustainability industry” to meet, exchange ideas about this sector and hear different perspectives about the social and environmental challenges we face. We hope you will meet many passionate people who are working to make a positive difference.

Further information and to RSVP at www.sustainabilitydrinks.com.