Archive for the ‘Seeking’ Category
Seeking is the category used by people and organisations who are looking for a response to a local sustainability issue or initiative. For example, contributors may be holding a competition and requiring applications, there may be a conference with a call for papers, or there may be a campaign that’s drumming up support. Alternatively, you may like to know the answer to a local environmental issue – you are welcome to post your question on the site using the “seeking” category. To do so visit the “How to use this site” page and follow the prompts.
Living Rivers: Funding for council WSUD projects
Posted in Movements, Seeking by Kate Archdeacon on February 2nd, 2012
Living Rivers is a Melbourne Water program offering tailored packages of technical and funding support for the implementation of strategic and structural water-sensitive urban design (WSUD) projects. They have recently developed fact sheets detailing the program aims, funding packages and frequently asked questions. Living Rivers works in partnership with 38 local councils across Melbourne to increase council’s capacity to deliver sustainable stormwater management outcomes. They are a proud supporter of the Clearwater program and we work closely together to develop and deliver complimentary council capacity building initiatives to accelerate the uptake of WSUD.
Click here to view Living Rivers Fact Sheets which have details such as FAQs, various funding packages, and Program contacts.
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Home Harvest Regional Feast: Seeking Growers
Posted in Seeking by Kate Archdeacon on January 27th, 2012
Source: Sustainable Gardening Australia (SGA)
We are looking for volunteers to grow and supply produce for the first Home Harvest Regional Feast. The feast will be held in Eltham (Victoria), so anyone who can get there is welcome to take part. Sign up as a grower and receive a free seasonal meal created using Grower’s produce at the feast. All registered growers will receive a small gift of vegetable seeds.
When: 22nd April, 2012
Where: Edendale, Gastons Road Eltham, Vic
Who: All growers are welcome, no matter what your level of experience or the size of your garden.
To register head to www.nillumbik.vic.gov.au or phone (03) 9433 3206.
Even if you are not from around the area, you can still click here to download your FREE Home Harvest Booklet of practical information on how to grow delicious, healthy produce in the temperate zone and connect with your local community.
Download a pdf with all the Feast info.
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Thriving Neighbourhoods 2012: Call for papers
Posted in Models, Research, Seeking by Kate Archdeacon on January 26th, 2012
Thriving Neighbourhoods is a conference on emerging approaches to the planning, design and management of local neighbourhoods that are set to radically improve health, social engagement, environmental quality and productivity in communities. Thriving communities have the resilience needed to adapt creatively to unexpected challenges such as climate change, population change, rapid technological change, social upheaval and economic crises.
The complexity of the systems involved in creating thriving communities poses difficult and challenging issues for planners, developers, managers and researchers. But the potential returns on the invested effort and resources are massive. Capturing these returns requires professional collaboration across policy sectors including health, planning, design, infrastructure, IT and the built and natural environments. Communities must also be engaged from the outset, recognising diverse cultural and individual needs.
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We invite papers and presentations on research and practice related to the challenge of creating and supporting thriving neighbourhoods and communities. Work to be presented may be related to the areas represented in the diagram below, on: the challenges; the processes of change and development; the specifics of place; the measurement of outcomes.
2 April 2012: Deadline for Abstracts (400 words)
28 May 2012: Abstracts acceptance notice
Find out more about submitting a paper.
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Environment Victoria’s Flemington Green: Project Update
Posted in Movements, Seeking by Kate Archdeacon on January 19th, 2012
Photos from Flemington Green
From “Flemington women showing the way” from Environment Victoria:
Recruited by our Community Consultant, Iman Barabiaa, another group of Flemington residents have just completed their Flemington Green sustainable living training. The 16 women are from East African countries (Eritrea, Ethiopia and South Sudan), Turkey and Yemen and all reside on the Flemington public housing estate. The women have attended workshops on saving energy and saving water (with a guest presentation from City West Water), held by Environment Victoria at the Flemington Community Centre in November 2011. The group also visited SKM Recycling in Coolaroo to learn about waste and recycling – and we enjoyed a lunch of Turkish kebabs together in Broadmeadows.
They’ve told us they’ve learn a lot. Many participants, being new to Australia and having lived in countries where water and sanitation conditions are quite different, were very impressed to learn that Melbourne’s tap water does not have to be boiled before drinking, and said they’d keep that energy saving tip in mind. The visit to SKM showed the sheer scale of recycling that happens every day in Melbourne and the vast amounts of energy these processes require. Many participants said they’ll be talking to their friends about the need to recycle carefully and to reduce the amount of rubbish we throw away. Not all Flemington residents have the luxury of being able to recycle at home, but with the new recycling pilot program on the estate continuing to progress well, more and more will gain the opportunity.
After the energy saving workshop, each participant told us she went home and started taking action, such as switching off appliances at the wall; unplugging the mobile phone charger when it’s not being used (it still draws power even when it’s not charging); talking to her sister in her home about energy-guzzling down-lights and giving a presentation about ways to save energy in her English class.
New knowledge and motivation, and new environmental action – these Flemington women are showing the way for their community to take green action.
>> Find out more about Environment Victoria’s Flemington Green project.
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If it’s broke – Fix it!
Posted in Events, Movements, Seeking by ecoApril on January 17th, 2012
| 19 February , 2012 | ||
| 11:00 am | to | 3:00 pm |
Photo from the 2011 Repair Workshop by Fernando De Sousa
A free, friendly workshop to repair (or reimagine) broken household items will be staged for this year’s Sustainable Living Festival at Melbourne’s Federation Square.
Collaborative Fix it! repair sessions are hosted by community members who believe there are better options than sending broken objects on a one-way ticket to landfill. Fix it! was founded by locals April Seymore, Renae Crosthwaite and Chandra Sundareswaran with the support of Sustainability Victoria and Metropolitan Waste Management Group. The friends want to share skills and build public confidence for repairing items that otherwise literally go to waste.
“We hear so much about our current ‘throw away society’ and we want to change that thought process,” said April. “Part of the Fix it! philosophy is to inspire participants to host fixing get-togethers in future. So while we will repair items at the Festival at no charge, we will also demonstrate how repair is achievable, affordable and help everyone feel capable. Helping people hem their garment or gain the self-assurance to repair a basic electrical item could make a huge difference to the amount and types of things that are clogging up landfill, dumped on nature strips, or donated broken to Op Shops who don’t have repair capacity.”
Recent repair, creating and upcycling events in Melbourne have met with enormous success. Artists and technicians at the July 2011 Repair Workshops rescued 3 tonnes from landfill, and this year’s Mini Maker Faire® sold out tickets almost immediately. Repair novices and gurus alike are welcome to drop into the festival workshop to sample repair projects. To BYO project, register your lamp, clothing, or woodworking repair request via email. Or simply share your fixing photos or questions with the Fix it! team via Facebook (Fix It Community) or Twitter (@FixItMelbourne).
There will be three themed Fix it! areas: Stitches—focusing on textiles; Switches—examining electrical appliances; and Splinters—woodworking with hand tools.
Get Involved: Fix it! is looking for skilled volunteers (Fixers) to assist in each of the focus areas at the Sustainable Living Festival. If you can lend a hand in the stitches, switches or splinters areas contact the team at fixitmelbourne@gmail.com.
The Sustainable Living Festival runs from 11-26 February, with Fix it! held from 11.00 am – 3.00 pm on Sunday the 19th at Federation Square in the city.
For further information and photo opportunities email fixitmelbourne@gmail.com
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Koalas in the Otways: Research volunteers
Posted in Movements, Seeking by EarthwatchAustralia on December 21st, 2011
A new research project Conserving Koala Country has been established by Earthwatch Australia to look into the deteriorating habitat and tree condition in the Otway Ranges, Victoria.
Dr Desley Whisson a Wildlife and Conservation Biologist from Deakin University says, “so far we’ve been tracking the movement of 15 koalas (8 females/7 males) at Cape Otway and observed a high density of koalas in the area of up to 16 koalas per hectare”. In many parts of Australia Koala’s are in decline and at risk of extinction due to disease, land clearing and drought, however the high density of Koalas is posing a potential issue in The Otways. During the recent research trip during mating season the research team made up of Earthwatch volunteers recorded vocalisation of the koalas using a songmeter; a device set to record bellows for 5 minutes every hour. Volunteers recorded the number of bellows and whether it’s a male or female.
“We found a high number of koalas with young so it looks like a successful breeding year. The koalas are occupying very small home ranges where trees are still in good condition. They obviously don’t need to move far to find food or mates. A 3 legged female adult koala was also found, something very unusual to see and particularly for her to have survived to adulthood, ” says Dr Whisson. Volunteers also ventured out at night with a spotlight to search for possums that could also be causing defoliation of trees. They saw lots of koalas but only found possums in one blue gum site. Richard Gilmore Earthwatch Executive Director says “It’s great to be able to be able to support research aimed at protecting the habitat of the iconic koala, and at the same time involve the general public in such a hands-on and interesting way.”
The next team of Earthwatch volunteers will be heading out to do further research on the 18 April.
For more information or to sign up for an Earthwatch expedition call 03 9682 6828, email earth@earthwatch.org.au or visit http://www.earthwatch.org/australia/exped/whisson_booking.html
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Blog of the Year Competition: Renew
Posted in Seeking, Visions by sashashtargot on December 19th, 2011
Calling all keen sustainability e-scribes! Enter your blog in ReNew Magazine’s Blog of the Year Competition for your chance to win a pair of 110-watt solar panels! We’re looking for blogs about sustainable homes on a budget, energy efficiency, DIY projects or wider issues to do with climate change or environmental policy. The blog should provide new details or insights for those seeking information on sustainability and should have been regularly updated in 2011.
To enter, simply email renew@ata.org.au with your blog’s URL, your contact details, your goals when you started blogging on this topic and a little about your audience, such as their age bracket, skill levels and level of engagement with you and your blog.
Email entries (under 200 words) to renew@ata.org.a
Entries close Friday, February 3, 2012. For more details: www.renew.org.au
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Open Survey: Melbourne Bike Share Impact on Individual Travel Behavior
Posted in Research, Seeking by Kate Archdeacon on December 14th, 2011
Photo by Daniel Bowen via flickr CC
CALL FOR MELBOURNE BIKE SHARE USERS!
Xin Yang is a postgraduate student studying in Master of Urban Planning from the University of Melbourne, currently conducting a research project on Melbourne Bike Share (MBS) program, “Evaluating the Impact of Melbourne Bike Share (MBS) Program on Individual Travel Behavior”. If you have ever used the (blue) MBS bikes before, please take just a little time (10-15 minutes) to participate in a brief online survey to have your say on your experiences with those blue bikes, and how you think things could be improved. Your time and assistance is greatly appreciated!
https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/8Z63993
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Local Harvest Australia: Connecting and supporting local consumers & producers
Posted in Movements, Seeking by Kate Archdeacon on December 14th, 2011
Local Harvest is a new national initiative aiming to help people find local sources of food and grow their own.
A directory of sustainable food in Australia
A national directory for finding food co-ops, swap meets, community gardens, farmers markets, box systems, organic retailers and more by simply entering your postcode.
Helping you to produce your own
DIY alternatives for food production and meeting essential needs, including resources for growing and making your own.
Local Harvest Challenge
Take up the Local Harvest Challenge, where for one week you attempt to reduce the ‘degrees of separation’ from your food. Based on the Household Action Challenge run in previous years.
There is a fantastic similar resource existing for the USA found at www.localharvest.org on which this project has been based.
Local Harvest will launch in February 2012, and is currently has a funding call-out on Pozible. Check out the website to find out more.
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Australian Bicycling Achievement Awards: Nominations open
Posted in Policies, Research, Seeking by cyclingpromotionfund on December 8th, 2011
Winners - Australian Bicycling Achievement Awards 2010
There is one month to go to nominate our local cycling individuals and communities to be acknowledged for their efforts in the 10th Australian Bicycling Achievement Awards. Maybe you know of a local advocate, bike shop, school, educational institution, or bicycle-friendly local business that promotes cycling and goes that extra mile. Or have you been to an inspirational cycling event that deserves recognition. The Awards will be presented at a ceremony in Canberra in early 2012 that will attended by federal politicians and representatives from national organisations and peak bodies in health, transport and the bicycle industry.
Australian Bicycling Achievement Awards Nominations
Awards nominations can be made online or via a form downloaded from: www.cyclingawards.com.au Please contact the Cycling Promotion Fund on (03) 9863 8646 or email office@cyclingpromotion.com.au if you have any additional questions about making a nomination.
Australian Bicycling Achievement Awards Categories
- Professional of the Year Award
- Volunteer of the Year Award
- Cycling Organisation Achievement Award
- Local Government Achievement Award
- Educational Institution Achievement Award
- Cycling Friendly Business Award
- Contribution by a Politician Award
- Bicycle Retailer Achievement Award
- National Media Achievement Award
- Special Initiative or Event to Promote Cycling Award
Application forms and entry must be lodged by the closing date of 5pm, Friday 14th December 2011.
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