Meet some of the innovators, change-makers and doers who are redefining the Australian way of life as they stop flying, change their habits, retrofit their houses, rearrange and rethink how to reduce their ecological footprint to a sustainable level.
Over 10 weeks, The Sustainable Hour runs a series of 10 short video episodes about the journey each of us can start if we want to help “changing the world one street at a time,” as the slogan for the Transition Streets movement goes.
The cheerful news coming from the 30 participating interviewees in the series is that this is something that creates positive impact for your private economy as well as for the local community and the environment. It’s a triple win-win.
Click on the image for A4 printable PDF – or click here
“Yes, I know we need a system change rather than individual change. But you can not have one without the other.”
~ Greta Thunberg, Swedish teenager and climate activist
Entering 2019, Mik made a new years resolution to become carbon-neutral by 2025. He started working on retrofitting his home, and his personal journey of discoveries and experiences is very much a part of this story.
Mik is a 56-year-old radio journalist and dad to three children and an immigrant from the land of bikes and windmills, Denmark. Together with his family, he moved into an old, leaking and uninsulated house in central Geelong in 2015.
Drafts through leakages in thin walls and single-glass windows make the house freezing cold in the winter and sweating hot in the summer. As a local community radio host, Mik had been talking with hundreds of Geelong residents about transitioning to more environment-conscious and carbon-free lifestyle in accordance with the need to act on the climate emergency. But getting started is the tricky part. There are so many choices and options – it can be overwhelming and confusing.
→ Media? Read the media release (PDF)
“Lots of people in our community have come far with the process and they can inspire you how to get started,” Monica Winston, coordinator of Transition Street Geelong, told him as she was being interviewed in a live radio interview. She left Mik with a copy of the ‘Transition Streets workbook’, which is full of suggestions and advice as well.
With an ambition to pick up knowledge and ideas about what works and what doesn’t work when it comes to topics such as saving water and energy, reducing waste, composting, growing food, and using zero-carbon modes of transport, Mik picked up his smartphone and began using it as a video camera.
“I’m hoping to be able to inspire others to start similar footprint-reduction quests, and when it comes to explaining about practical experiences, it is good to have the images. This is ‘radio gone visual’,” Mik said.
During the 10 episodes, we follow Mik’s discovery of a whole new world of action that strengthens his conviction that as a society, we actually do have the capacity to turn our current climate-wrecking and polluting old habits into something that is both better, safer and cheaper. He discovers an outline in the horizon of what a sustainable and ecological civilisation eventually could look like.
→ Subscribe to the ‘Show me how’ youtube channel
SHOW ME HOW – EPISODE 1:
The burning question
There is a lot of talk about decarbonising our society and how quickly we must transition to a low-carbon lifestyle with a much smaller ecological footprint. “Alright then,” says Mik, “but more precisely, how are we going to do this at the personal level?”
Mik Aidt is a Danish-Australian journalist, who founded the weekly community radio show The Sustainable Hour on 94.7 The Pulse six years ago.
Inspired by an invitation from the coordinator of Transition Streets Geelong, Monica Winston – given while she was a guest in the program to talk about the development of the Transition Streets movement – Mik decides to follow the ‘seeing is believing’ mantra: He leaves the climate bunker and goes out in the city to learn how its change-makers, first-movers and doers are transitioning to a low carbon lifestyle and reducing their ecological footprints.
Using the video camera on his phone, he is going to bring back reports about what he has learned every week in the coming months. The report will be uploaded to this Youtube channel and aired in the radio studio, and the people he has met are also invited to elaborate on their experiences in the radio podcast, which is made available on iTunes on Stitcher. So stay tuned!
→ Listen to the live radio podcast about this episode
→ Subscribe to the ‘Show me how’ youtube channel
First show me why
SHOW ME HOW – EPISODE 2:
Show Me How episode 2 is about Mik’s personal realisation and resolution. In this episode, Mik tells his personal journey that got him interested in the tools and solutions that the Transition Streets movement has to offer.
Interview with Zoe Stewart-Johns from Transition Towns Borough of Queenscliffe – www.transitiontowns-boq.weebly.com
The video also contains an excerpt of an interview with Mary Stringer from Transition Banyule, which was screened at the Transition Towns Borough’s festival. Mary Stringer is co-editor of the Transition Streets workbook, and she is co-founder and long term member of Transition Banyule. The interview video was produced in August 2017 by Anna Morgan and can been seen here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=cUrtlmTaws0
. . .
Mik’s realisation
When we want to address a huge global challenge such as the climate emergency, local action and recilience-building has more impact than people generally recognise. This is because the local acts are part of a growing global movement, and because actual behavioural change and “voting with the dollar” sometimes have more impact on policy making than any spoken or written words.
This is what Mik has come to realise after having talked year in and year out about the topic as a radio host in The Sustainable Hour on 94.7 The Pulse.
In this introductury episode, Mik shows what got him started on the journey with reducing his own ecological footprint, even though the amount of changes it will make on the environment and the atmosphere’s composition of course may seem ridiculously insignificant. However, they are not when a large number of people do the same.
It was his own personal “climate emergency declaration”, which in reality was a private new years resolution that went a bit futher than this kind of resolutions normally do, which kickstarted his interest in the GIY – Green It Yourself – movement and what the Transition Streets movement in Geelong would have to offer in that area.
→ Listen to the live radio podcast about this episode
→ Subscribe to the ‘Show me how’ youtube channel
. . .
SOURCES, RECOURCES, INSPIRATION AND INFORMATION
→ You can read more about the $5.2 trillion government subsidies to fossil fuels in 2017 on imf.org:
→ Climate Home News – 4 June 2018:
G7 fossil fuel subsidies worth $100bn a year to industry, study finds
“UK accused of masking subsidies to fossil fuels, ahead of meeting of G7 countries, which have agreed to end taxpayer support by 2025”
→ Transition Towns Borough of Queenscliffe’s Facebook page
SHOW ME HOW – EPISODE 3:
Transitioning our street
Show Me How episode 3 is about how to start a transition group in your own street
Interviews with Jackie Matthews and Karen from Transition Chaudenay Mews in Ocean Grove, Derek Ryan from Transition Street Saleyards in North Geelong, Rosie Bright from Highmont Drive Transition Street, Richard Hamilton from Transition Avon Street, Simon Reeves from Transition Streets Norlane, and Monica Winston who is the co-ordinator of Transition Streets Geelong.
In this third episode of the ‘Show me how’ series, Mik sets out to learn how it works when you’d like to start a transition group in your own street. In Ocean Grove, a new group is being created, and two neighbours explain about their first steps. Derek’s, Richard’s and Simon’s groups are more than a year down the track, and they give examples of how their Transition Streets are making a difference.
Monica Winston, who is co-ordinator of Transition Streets Geelong, explains how it works with printing and letterboxing an introduction letter and getting hold of copies of the workbook.
“The ecological footprint is the starting point of the Transition Street program,” Monica says. “The workbook gives you a method to register the progress you’re making making in reducing it.”
“Another important goal for the Transition Street movement is to create resilience and strengthen a sense of community and togetherness around the challenges we face.”
→ Listen to the live radio podcast about this episode
→ Subscribe to the ‘Show me how’ youtube channel
. . .
INSPIRATIONAL
→ HP Australia Environmental Sustainability Study 2018 (PDF)
The 52 Climate Actions partnership was formed in 2015 after the International Permaculture Convergence declaration to the Paris Climate Conference. Led by The Permaculture Association (Britain), nine organisations came together to promote permaculture based solutions to climate change
→ www.52climateactions.com
SHOW ME HOW – EPISODE 4:
Storing and recyling passion in pipes
Show Me How episode 4 is about water
Interviews with Mark Hoffman from Belmont Hights Transition Group, Derek Ryan from Transition Street Saleyards in North Geelong, and Rosie Bright from Highmont Drive Transition Street.
In this fourth episode of the ‘Show me how’ series, we visit three water-harvesting enthusiasts who show us how how they do it.
It is very much about pracising ‘common water-sense’. It is about finding good ways to store it in your garden. How to recycle what comes from your shower and sink. Save water where you can. It can be done with grand engineering of pipes, pumps and ingenious storage and filtering methods, but there are also many super-simple and cost-saving ways you can do it.
Rosie Bright’s method is the simplest of them all: She uses a bucket in the shower to collect the cold water that comes out in the beginning, before the warm water arrives. Similarly, when she is washing vegetables, she uses a recycled icecream container to collect the water, which she uses in the garden.
The average consumption of water per person in Geelong region is over 200 litres per day. Derek Ryan only purchases around 10 litres per day from the waterworks, because every other of his households’ and garden’s waterneed gets covered by clever systems of pipes and pumps he has set up, so he is able to recycle greywater from the kitchen and bathroom, and store the rain that falls on the roof. One millimetre of rain gives him 300 litres of freshwater in the tanks.
Mark Hoffman is an enthusiastic permaculturalist who harvests and stores rainwater to water his rich vegetable garden and 80 fruit trees. He shows us the principles of slowing down the rainwater from the roof of the house, so it doesn’t just get washed away in the gutter, but is being naturally distributed and stored in ponds around the garden.
→ Listen to the live radio podcast about this episode
→ Subscribe to the ‘Show me how’ youtube channel
. . .
→ Article about Mark Hoffmann in Complete Home
. . .
Global water crisis
“A quarter of humanity faces looming water crises”, wrote the New York Times on 6 August 2019.
Have a look at the map. Some of Australia will be among the hardest hit. Note the dark red areas around Melbourne.
SHOW ME HOW – EPISODE 5:
Transitioning towards energy freedom
Show me how episode 5 is about renewable energy and energy efficiency
Interviews with Glen Rodgers, architect and director of Zero C – and with Kenneth Pedersen, Danish student at Deakin University in Geelong.
In this fifth episode of the ‘Show me how’ series, Mik sets out to find out how to properly retrofit an old shed with insulation and doubleglazed windows, so that it not only sustains a comfortable indoor temperature at almost no energy cost, but also is powered with clean and green energy that doesn’t heat the planet.
→ Listen to the live radio podcast about this episode
→ Subscribe to the ‘Show me how’ youtube channel
. . .
QUOTES
Australia’s construction, maintenance and use of buildings constitutes around 25 per cent of its annual carbon emissions.
~ Van der Heijden, 2018
Buildings consume one-third of all the Earth’s resources.
~ Doan et al, 2017
80 per cent of all greenhouse gases are attributable directly to urban residents and their associated affluence.
~ Hoornweg et al, 2011
You can read more about this in the article ‘End-user engagement: The missing link of sustainability transition for Australian residential buildings’ by Igor Martek, M. Reza Hosseini, Asheem Shrestha, David J. Edwards, Stewart Seaton, and Glenn Costin, published in March 2019 in Journal of Cleaner Production
. . .
SOURCES, RECOURCES, INSPIRATION AND INFORMATION
→ Richard Keech’s blog: New Energy Thinking
www.newenergythinking.com/blog
→ Book: ‘The Energy Freedom Home’
www.shop.ata.org.au
→ Beyond Zero Emissions’s Facebook page:
www.facebook.com/beyondzeroemissions
Videos by the Danish energy company Ørsted:
. . .
“A groundbreaking report shows solar and wind way more economic then oil, and here is a 4 minute slideshow summary for busy folk showing why.”
~ Jeremy Leggett
SHOW ME HOW – EPISODE 6
Zero carbon transportation
Show Me How episode 6 is about cycling, driving and flying in our daily lives, transitioning to the low hanging carbon-fruits of transportation with the use our bicycles, electric batteries and muscle-power
Interviews with three keen cyclists: Nina Roberts, Phil Baulch and Richard Hamilton
In this sixth episode of the ‘Show me how’ series, Mik meets Nina, who put her car on a car-share platform when she bought an electric bicycle with room for herself and her two children. He also talks with Phil, who discovered new freedom, health benefits and meaning when he replaced car driving with cycling, and with Richard – a consultant who decided to stop flying and instead implemented the criteria that if you with to be his client, you must be within cycling-reach.
→ Listen to the live radio podcast about this episode
→ Subscribe to the ‘Show me how’ youtube channel
. . .
→ Nina Robert’s blog People Make Change
Innovative cycling examples from:
→ LeafXPro – The Bicycle Umbrella
. . .
SOURCES, RECOURCES, INSPIRATION AND INFORMATION
DRIVING: CAR SHARING
→ Flexicar
Flexicar wants carsharing to become a mainstream public transport option for urban Australians, providing a cheap, green and easy alternative to car ownership
→ GoGet
GoGet aims to provide a transport service that allows people to live car-free
→ DiDi
The rideshare app DiDi aims to build a ‘new urban ecosystem’ to help achieve global sustainability
. . .
CYCLING
→ World Economic Forum:
Here are 6 ways cycling makes the world a better place
ACTIVE TRANSPORT HEALTH BENEFITS
Move naturally: An international study identified the shared traits of the world’s most long-lived people. The number one thing they had all in common was their way of getting about, moving naturally. The world’s longest-lived people don’t pump iron or run marathons. Instead, their environments nudge them into moving without thinking about it.
Lots of evidence that regular exercise and healthy living reduces risk of Alzheimer, smalll vessel disease and stroke
Some fascinating recent anatcomical discoveries pointing to possible mechanisms
Exercise and mental ability and health are closely linked – this has been known for millennia
Combining your commuting and trips with healthy exercise:
Pedalling your way to better health
→ More on www.researchgate.net, www.can.org.nz, and amazon.com
→ Workplace Health Promotion Network:
On your bike pedalling for mertal health
FLYING
→ The Independent – 16 August 2019:
Why a ‘Green Flying Duty’ is vital to combat climate change
Article by Justin Francis, CEO of Responsible Travel
→ Responsible Travel:
A Manifesto for the Future of Tourism
Chapter one: Aviation and the Climate Crisis
→ The Independent – 5 June 2019:
Flygskam: What is the flight-shaming environmental movement that’s sweeping Europe?
“The anti-flying movement is growing. Hear the word flygskam out of context, and you’d be forgiven for mistaking it for the next big Scandavian lifestyle craze, following in the snuggly, good-vibes footsteps of hygge and lykke. But this latest trend is more about tackling climate change than getting cosy – here’s everything you need to know about the anti-flying movement that’s sweeping northern Europe.”
→ ABC News – 4 May 2019:
Is giving up flying the best way to stop climate change?
→ The Guardian – 6 April 2010:
Aviation Q&A: the impact of flying on the environment
“Flying is a heated topic. But if there is no such thing as an ‘eco-friendly’ flight, is grounding planes the only option?”
→ The Times of Israel – 22 January 2019:
What would it mean for the world if we stopped flying — in a flying finish?
SHOW ME HOW – EPISODE 7
Transitioning to grow what you eat
Show Me How episode 7 is about how to turn your garden or backyard into a food hub.
Interview with Ben Shaw from Ben Shaw Permaculture in Geelong
In this seventh episode of the ‘Show me how’ series, Mik wants to take the growing of his own food to a more serious level than just a few pees and tomatos, but it only takes him one Australian summer before he realises that it is not as easy as it looks.
Ben Shaw, who is a local transition and permaculture trainer, agrees to show Mik how to get started properly when you’d like to turn your garden into a food hub.
Ben runs edible gardening workshops all year round for both adults and children. He consults locally with families and businesses on how to design and build their gardens to get maximum yields and also achieve aesthetically beautiful gardens. “My life is healthier, more fulfilling, more community minded, and a significant part of this has been achieved through the simple act of growing food,” he says.
“The more I read and observed what was happening in our food system, the more it became blatantly clear that we are not looking after the natural world, whether it be mining, logging or agriculture. As a people we are slowly destroying the ecosystem that is meant to sustain us. Feeling slightly helpless, I vowed to do my bit by trying to help and encourage people to grow food in a sustainable way,” explains Ben Shaw.
In the film, Ben is seen giving a presentation entitled ‘Urban Harvest: Composting in a circular economy’ at the Geelong Library on 2 July 2019.
Food demand makes up 26 per cent of the global ecological footprint.
EPISODE 7 – Chapters
00:59 Establishing the garden: have a dream
01:57 Building the soil: Chicken, composting, no-dig, bins
08:12 Vertical garden with fruit trees
09:24 The big change
11:15 Mitigating climate change
12:19 Join the revolution
13:34 Growing a sense of community
→ Listen to the live radio podcast about this episode
→ Subscribe to the ‘Show me how’ youtube channel
. . .
SOURCES, RECOURCES, INSPIRATION AND INFORMATION
→ Growing an Abundance of Food in the City Using Permaculture
The Plummery is a suburban home where a backyard permaculture garden measuring only 10 x 10 metres produces over 425 kilos of food year-round.
→ The rise of urban food forests
Cities like Atlanta and Philadelphia are recognizing a park can be more than just a green space when visitors are allowed to pick fruits, vegetables and nuts.
→ Small Backyard Transformed Using Permaculture Design (Permaculture Tours – Ep 1)
Richard Telford – Central Victoria, Australia
The first episode of the series Permaculture Tours: “In this episode we take a tour of Richard and Kunie’s property, Abdallah House, in Seymour, Australia. On this 1/7th of an acre property, the owners have made the most of the available space through thoughtful design of the garden, house, and marginal spaces.”
→ PHC Film: Soil is a living organism
“A very unique film on how to restore soil health”
→ TEDtalk:
How to grow a forest in your backyard
→ TEDtalk:
A climate change solution that’s right under our feet
There’s two times more carbon in the earth’s soil than in all of its vegetation and the atmosphere — combined. Biogeochemist Asmeret Asefaw Berhe dives into the science of soil and shares how we could use its awesome carbon-trapping power to offset climate change.
“[Soil] represents the difference between life and lifelessness in the earth system, and it can also help us combat climate change — if we can only stop treating it like dirt,” she says.
→ Happy DIY Home Staff – 21 September 2019:
How to Make Compost at Home
→ Resilience – 12 July 2019:
Sleepwalking into Certain Catastrophe, or Awakening via Agroecology
→ Putting the people back in the food equation
In the heart of Brooklyn, Amy Bennett and her trio of Greene Grape businesses are “putting the people back in the food equation” by participating in and strengthening a food system that is more human-scale, sustainable, transparent and local—and creating community-based businesses that keep customers coming back for more.
→ Report: The future is rural
‘The Future is Rural’ by biologist and farmer Jason Bradford challenges the conventional wisdom about the future of food in our modern, globalized world. It is a much-needed reality check that explains why certain trends we take for granted – like the decline of rural areas and the dependence of farming and the food system on fossil fuels – are historical anomalies that will reverse over the coming decades where food will become a central concern. Lessons learned from resilience science and alternatives to industrial agriculture provide a foundation for people to transition to more rural and locally focused lives. The 111-page report presents a synthesis of the historical and scientific underpinnings of the astonishing changes that will transform the food system and society as a whole. (To get the free download link, you have to register)
→ Climate Action – 19 July 2019:
Changing our diet by 2050 is essential to achieving a sustainable future, new report reveals
The World Resources Institute offers up a five course ‘Menu of Solutions’ to achieve a sustainable food future
→ ABC Science – 9 August 2019:
IPCC climate change report calls for urgent overhaul of food production, land management
“We must urgently revolutionise what we eat, how we grow it and the way we use land if the world is to combat dangerous climate change, according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report”
. . .
. . .
→ Join the Facebook group:
Australian Backyard Vegetable Growers #1
It is a closed group, but anyone can apply to become a group member.
SHOW ME HOW – EPISODE 8
Transitioning the way we consume
There’s a lot of good oldfashioned common sense in putting more time and appreciation into recycling, reducing, and repairing. But we tend to forget that we can also simply refuse things. We can refuse to buy things that end up filling our bins with plastic, for instance.
Interviews with Rosie Bright from Cuthbert Avenue Transition Street, Fiona Lee and Dr Saranyu from Cement Works Transition Street, and Phil Baulch from Belmont Heights Transition Streets who is also the owner of Python Solar Heating.
In this eight episode of the ‘Show me how’ series, Mik finds that people in many of the Transition Street groups really like to explore this topic – and to share what they know about food and things you can make yourself.
→ Listen to the live radio podcast about this episode
→ Subscribe to the ‘Show me how’ youtube channel
. . .
SOURCES, RECOURCES, INSPIRATION AND INFORMATION
Sour Dough recipe
Be warned, it takes time. There are recipes online for 18 hour no knead sour doughs – you just mix them and forget them for 18-14 hours depending on the weather, but they don’t rise as well. Levens should be light and fluffy and float when you add them to water. You can make three loaves – a fruit loaf, an olive and a plain seeded version. Freeze what you can’t use.
Yoghurt recipe
See the Fairsharefare website which is run by artist Jen Rae. It gives an overview of where Matha’s yoghurt comes from – and also has other interesting information on art and global food systems.
Keffir recipe
Just add enough milk to cover the seeds and leave on the bench for 24 hours – to make a batch with more bacteria – leave the strained kefir out for another 24 hours. You make a bigger batch and add more milk but you may need to build up your collection of seeds – they multiuply fairly quickly. The dogs love the seeds or you can put the excess seeds in smoothies.
Laundry detergent
How to make your own laundry detergent
Rosie Bright often sources recipes from www.wellnessmama.com – however, most have since morphed into her own, she also tells.
Consumerism
A classic video about the topic of consumerism: www.storyofstuff.org
There are many more good videos from same source
“Research from 2017 found that food waste accounted for eight per cent of greenhouse gas emissions. We waste over a quarter of the food that’s produced, and all of that food has a carbon footprint. By not overbuying, and not over-serving at mealtimes, and keeping to use by dates, we can reduce that food waste and start having a really significant impact on our carbon footprint.”
→ Wired UK – 17 August 2019:
The practical ways to reduce your carbon footprint (that actually work)
“Want to know how to reduce your carbon footprint? It’s more complicated than you may imagine.”
Wastefree living
SHOW ME HOW – EPISODE 9
Carbon-conscious food scrap composting
Show Me How episode 9 is about transitioning left-overs and food waste into compost that then helps the growing of some free food – and also about how to get the neighbourhood involved.
Interview with Heidi Fog, carbon consultant – www.heidifog.com – and her daugther, Vigga.
In this ninth episode of the ‘Show me how’ series, Mik demonstrates how the carbon-reducing ‘wormjuice-tub’ works at his home, and then sets out to visit Heidi Fog and her children Vigga and Oscar, who demonstrate a system they have invented where they receive foodscraps from their neighbours and turn them into beautiful vegetables in their garden. “Free food,” as Heidi calls it, while the greenhouse gas emissions from the foodscrap are reduced by 50 per cent.
Food waste is a significant contributor to global climate change, responsible for an estimated 3.3 gigatons of greenhouse gas emissions every year.
. . .
SOURCES, RECOURCES, INSPIRATION AND INFORMATION
Compost sharing via an app
You can use the ShareWaste app to help you find someone in your neighbourhood who’s willing to accept extra food scraps and compost it or feed it to their worms or animals.
→ See: www.sharewaste.com
SHOW ME HOW – EPISODE 10
It’s a whole new world
This episode contains an excerpt from a presentation by permaculture teacher Quinn Earthchild, who held a permaculture workshop in Geelong in July 2019, and a 10 year old clip by Rob Hopkins, who gave a brilliant TED Talk about the Transition movement. It also contains a clip from an event organised by Extinction Rebellion Finland.
In this tenth episode of the ‘Show me how’ series, Mik summarises what he has learned from meeting that part of the Geelong community who are members of the Transition Streets movement and who are, as the subtitle in the Transition Streets workbook states, “changing the world one street at a time”.
Mik has discovered a whole new world of action that strengthens his conviction that as a society, we actually do have the capacity to turn our current climate-wrecking and polluting old habits into something better – and we can do it quicker than anyone anticipates. In the horizon he sees an outline of what a truly sustainable and ecological civilisation eventually could look like.
Recently, Rob Hopkins published a short video which outlines a similar positive vision for what could happen during the next decade:
. . .
SOURCES, RECOURCES, INSPIRATION AND INFORMATION
VIDEOS
→ Milkwood Permaculture: “Real skills for down to earth living”
Instructional and inspirational ‘How to’-videos from the Milkwood Permaculture farm in NSW
More about Milkwood here: www.milkwood.net
→ The Transition Response
Rob Hopkins: Transition to a world without oil
A TEDtalk classic – published in 2009
→ Transition Australia
Transition Australia’s vision is to inspire, connect and support groups to build a localised, sustainable and just future. “Cut your bills, develop new skills, build neighbourhood networks, become more sustainable, make a difference!”
www.transitionaustralia.net
. . .
→ Shani Graham’s TedX talk about building community in our own streets
“What sort of community do we want to live in? How do we make that happen where we live? Will my neighbours really be interested in something this crazy? They might!”
→ How To Create An Abundant Economy
“Our current economy has scarcity built into its design. How might we might create an economy centered around abundance instead?”
The shift to biosphere consciousness
“A new generation is rising and with it different views on how we define freedom, power, and community.”
ARTICLES
Recycling
→ The Guardian – 18 June 2019:
Eskilstuna: how a Swedish town became the world capital of recycling
The city was dying. Then somebody had a great idea to save it – make it the greenest place on Earth
Carbon emissions reduction
→ CBC – 21 June 2019:
Feeling helpless about climate change? There’s lots you can do
“Drastic restrictions on almost every aspect of people’s lives, from the cars they drive, the way they heat their homes, to the fridges they buy — even the food stored in them. That is the reality of what awaits us in 2050 if a UK government pledge to cut greenhouse emissions to “net zero” is to be met.If it can do it, the country will become the world’s first major economy to stop contributing to climate change.But the goal is extremely ambitious — the roadblocks massive.Empower women to avert climate crisisNet zero means the amount of greenhouse gases emitted into the atmosphere is no more than the amount taken out.By setting the target, the government is doing what it promised to do.”
→ CNN – 16 June 2019:
What would life be like in a zero-carbon country?
“Many people are already living in eco “superhomes” – houses which have been adapted to achieve a 60% or more reduction in carbon usage. The Observer spoke to three residents to find out how they have adapted their homes and their lives to reduce carbon emissions.”
→ The Guardian – 5 May 2019:
Could you live a low carbon life? Meet the people who already are
“There are things we can all do to lower our impact on the environment. We speak to three people who have taken the first steps.”
→ Recommendable book: ‘Low-Carbon And Loving It’
Having sold over 750 copies, the authors are now offering the book for free download
More on the book’s home page:
→ The Guardian – 29 June 2019:
No flights, a four-day week and living off-grid: what climate scientists do at home to save the planet
“What changes have the experts made to their own lives to tackle the climate emergency?“
→ 52 Climate Actions:
www.52climateactions.com
“It is time to act. You have the power to bring about positive change. Every action makes a difference, so start today with the theme that inspires you most.”
Ecological footprint: Managing our biocapacity
Resource accounting is essential to avoid ecological bankruptcy. Think of it as you would of finances. We cannot continue to spend $175 when we only earn $100. It is not that complicated. As with finances, accounting helps us be successful. The new book “Ecological Footprint: Managing Our Biocapacity” shows us how. Christiana Figueres, former Executive Secretary of UNFCCC and a global optimist, said: “If we treated our bank account as we have been treating the Earth’s natural capital, we would have gone bankrupt long ago. The planet has been extremely lenient with us but that resilience is about to give way to a natural and human crisis. This book is a loud wake up call to everyone.” Find out more here:
Resilience
The Post Carbon Institute and Resilience.org
The Post Carbon Institute has developed a number of resources to help more of us build the kind of resilient communities that are the best means for navigating the tough times ahead:
• Think Resilience online course – designed to help more people gain a systems-level understanding the sustainability crises and discover the best path forward. It is about how to build community resilience, and how to make sense of the complex challenges society now faces.
• The book ‘The Community Resilience Reader’ is a popular resource for people seeking ways to create a more resilient and sustainable future: reader.resilience.org
• Every day the Post Carbon Institute publishes inspiring articles on their flagship site, Resilience.org. From practical advice on how to build resilience in your community, to thoughtful pieces on how to process the difficulties of living in a world of increased biodiversity loss, overpopulation, and climate crises, you’ll always find something worth reading on Resilience.org.
• Enroll anytime to access this informative video lecture series led by Richard Heinberg: education.resilience.org
• The Think Resilience online course consists of 22 short videos (between 5 and 20 minutes long) that explore the interrelated crises of the twenty-first century, and what we as citizens, students, and community leaders can do to respond to them. The course is hosted by Post Carbon Institute Senior Fellow Richard Heinberg.
→ Ensia – 19 July 2019:
As the climate heats up, efforts to build more resilient communities go beyond infrastructure
“A question from an Ensia reader leads to an exploration at what helps us thrive in the face of floods, droughts, fires and other disruptions and disasters.”
The Sharing Economy Guide
→ Download: www.australianethical.com.au/sharing-economy-guide-download
A sharing economy is a relatively new concept that helps us think about how we can use all of our resources more efficiently. It could help us lower carbon footprint, boost community engagement, save money and enhance choice and convenience. There are so many benefits. See how you could start your journey to living a shared lifestyle in different aspects of your life, like fashion, dog sitting and more.
→ Read more: www.australianethical.com.au/sharing-economy-guide
Permaculture principles
Permaculture is a growing global movement built around an effective framework of three ethical principles and 12 work principles:
Ethical principles:
Care for the earth
Care for people
Fair share
Work principles:
Observe & interact
Catch & store energy
Obtain a yield
Apply self-regulation & accept feedback
Use & and value renewable resources & services
Produce no waste
Design from patterns to details
Integrate rather than segregate
Use small & slow solutions
Use & value diversity
Use edges & and value the marginal
Creatively use & respond to change
The ecological civilisation
China committed to building an “ecological civilisation” as a national strategy since the 17th CPC Congress in 2007. The goal is to form “an energy and resource efficient, environmentally friendly structure of industries, pattern of growth, and mode of consumption.”
“China’s vast investment has made great strides towards improving the sustainability of rural people and nature. China’s path towards sustainability is clearly charted in the 13th Five Year Plan where President Xi’s Chinese dream for an ecological civilization and a “beautiful China” is laid out.”
~ The Conversation
→ EcoWatch – 9 February 2018:
What Does China’s ‘Ecological Civilization’ Mean for Humanity’s Future?
→ People’s World – 21 August 2018:
“China builds an ‘Ecological Civilization’ while the world burns”
→ Ensia:
Can China really lead the way to an ‘Ecological Civilization’?
“If president Xi Jinping’s ecological vision turns out to be more than mere rhetoric, it could have a profound effect on humanity’s future.”
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TWEETS
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QUOTES
“We need an all-hands-on-deck approach”
“If the world is going to achieve the greenhouse gas emission reductions necessary to meet the goals of the Paris Agreement, there can be no abdication of responsibility. We need corporations to slash emissions, adopt renewables, cut food waste, and more. To address the climate crisis, we need an all-hands-on-deck approach.”
~ Leslie Samuelrich, President, Green Century Capital Management
“Stop the car and get out”
“There is research showing that climate change is happening faster than we thought. We’re in a car hurtling towards the edge of a cliff, we’ve got our foot on the accelerator, and we’re just talking to each other, faffing about. If anything, some of us are even putting the foot further down. What we need to do is stop the car and get out. That has become increasingly clear to me in the last couple of years, which is why I’ve made changes to my own lifestyle.”
~ Daniel Masoliver, features writer at The Guardian
The New Republic – 3 June 2019:
You Will Have to Make Sacrifices to Save the Planet
“We can save millions of lives from climate change, but only if we change our own. Democrats should start acknowledging that.”
“People keep banging on about how personal action (consumption choices) won’t make enough impact to solve this on their own. They’re right. However, it’s time we get over that and make these necessary changes about how we live because it’s going to hurt so much more in the long run if we don’t get onto this now. If you’re already adapting your lifestyle, you’re communicating to others the severity of the emergency.”
~ Emily J Keeling, Hobart
“[W]e have to stop talking about how electric cars will save us; it takes too much stuff to make them all… We have to look at making it easier for people to use bikes, transit and feet.”
We need to work together
“We don’t have time to sit on our hands any longer. But the hopeful thing is that we’re finally waking up, through movements and initiatives like Fridays for Future, The Green New Deal, and Extinction Rebellion.
The Green group in the EU parliament increased by 40 per cent in this year’s election. The recent general election in Denmark clearly favored parties with a progressive climate agenda. Here in Sweden, train travels are up 8 per cent this year, while the number of flights are down 5 per cent.
This is not a trend that soon will be over. It is the most important mentality shift since the end of the cold war. We are ready for change. A change that must encompass all parts of our societies. It must involve everyone and everything. Companies, citizens, public authorities, politicians, consumers, nations. We need to break our habit of either competing with, or ignoring, each other. We need to work together.”
~ David Olsson, co-founder of We Don’t Have Time, speaking at Chamber of Beautiful Business in Stockholm on 8 June 2019.
“While we are genuinely wondering how to convince people to live a healthier life in a healthier environment, let’s bear in mind that: – Billions are spent to make people dream of their next car, flight, etc… – 0 is spent to make people dream of a healthier life & environment.”
~ Isabelle Letellier
“We know pollution kills. And it’s not an equal opportunity killer – it attacks our children and the elderly, the poor, and the powerless.”
~ Gina McCarthy, former EPA administrator in the United States
LEARN MORE
→ Learn more about the Transition Streets movement in Geelong on www.transitionstreetgeelong.org
→ Download the Transition Streets Workbook
→ See guides and videos on www.transitionaustralia.net
→ More about The Sustainable Hour on www.podcast.climatesafety.info
→ More about Mik’s ‘Show me how’ series on www.climatesafety.info/showmehow
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CREDITS
This film was produced by Geelong Media – www.geelongmedia.com.au – with assistance from The Sustainable Hour crew at 94.7 The Pulse.
We acknowledge that Transition Streets Geelong operates on the traditional lands of the Wadawurrung, and also that the Transition Streets workbook was created by Transition Newcastle in New South Wales.
Music: ‘Mr Sunny Face’ by Wayne Jones, ‘Castleshire’ by Chris Haugen and ‘A Dream Within a Dream’ by Twin Musicom, licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution licence.
A big thank you to Phil Baulch for the drone footage of Geelong, and to Erik Thorup for thermal heat footage of Loyang B power plant in Gippsland. And to NASA for the planetary carbon emissions map and emissions data.
The project was supported by the City of Greater Geelong through its Environment & Sustainability Program and by South Barwon Community Centre.
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RELATED HASHTAGS – on Facebook
#ActiveTransport #CityofGreaterGeelong #CleverCreativeGeelong #ClimateEmergency #ClimateSolutions #CoGG #Community #Cycling #EcologicalFootprint #EnergyEfficiency #FlyLess #Geelong #LowCarbonLiving #NoFly #SustainableGeelong #SustainableLiving #TransitionStreets #TransitionStreetsGeelong #TransitionAustralia #RenewableEnergy #Resilience #Retrofitting #ShowMeHow #TowardsZeroWasteGeelong #WarOnWasteAU #Whatsyour2025 #zerocarbon2025 #zerocarbon #zerocarbonliving
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Transformation almost without precedent
We know the time of ‘business as usual’ is over, that we must transform the present in order to create a sustainable future.
Transition Network, Pop Up Tomorrow
If we are to make the changes the climate emergency demands of us, the next 10-15 years will be a time of social, cultural, economic and political transformation almost without precedent. It will be a time when our imagination needs to be invited, valued and empowered. A time that future generations will sing great songs, and tell great tales about. A challenging yet amazing time to be alive!
What will help us build something so necessary and so remarkable will be our ability to tell rich and compelling stories of how the future could look, feel, taste, and sound. Stories that create a deep longing for a future very different from the present.
A future of clean air, children playing in the street, cities with food growing everywhere, more birdsong and wildlife, thriving local economies, homes and businesses powered by renewable energy, imaginative and playful architecture, and rewilded landscapes.
An age of connection, collaboration and community, with a sense of collective purpose. A more resilient, more diverse, more equal, more caring, fair world with zero emissions.
It will be a time of creativity, dreaming, and sharing. A space to explore our longings for what we want the future to be. Connecting us to each other and to a future worth fighting for.
We invite you to join us during 17th-24th October. Gather your community group, faith group, street, school, or organisation and spend time together generating ‘memories of the future’.
What this will look like is up to you, and you can find out more and download a resource guide here – www.transitionnetwork.org/popuptomorrow
→ Subscribe to the ‘Show me how’ youtube channel