pt4me2 for a change: Faster Greener Sooner

Manningham is one of the only municipalities in Melbourne without any train or tram services! 

Manningham City Council and local residents are campaigning for a rail service to connect Manningham with an adequate public transport system! Doncaster rail will reduce traffic congestion and make journeys into the city much quicker, while also minimising wear-and-tear on roads in a number of Manningham suburbs. This result can clearly lessen carbon dioxide emissions from roads and improve the air quality around our family-centered neighborhood.

Three quick and easy ways to show you support a rail line to Doncaster

• SMS YES to 0428 pt4 me2
• Join our online petition
• Have your say on the pt4me2 blog

www.pt4me2.org.au

ACT otherWISE – Energy Workshop

ENERGY SAVINGS WORKSHOP

An opportunity for members of the ACT otherWISE network.

This is the first of quarterly energy savings workshops to assist members of the ACT otherWISE network reduce their energy consumption in the home environment. Come along and leave equipped with more tools and knowledge, as you take individual and community actions towards a more sustainable ACT.

When: Thursday 8^th November

Time: 6pm to 7.30pm

Where: The Conservation Council, 3 Childers Street (next to the Street Theatre)

Our lifestyles rely on energy. Whether it’s enjoying a cold drink, staying warm on a cold winter’s night, taking a hot shower, watching a movie…. So many of the activities we enjoy require energy. Recently we have come to realise that the way we generate this energy is really important. In Australia, most of our energy comes from burning fossil fuels that emit greenhouse gases. These in turn are contributing the climate change, which is already having major impacts on the environment-both natural and human built.

So, what to do? The workshop will provide information on how people typically use energy in the domestic setting and explore possible responses that we can take to have a positive effect on the climate change crisis.

Facilitated by Peter Miller from the Home Energy Advice Team (HEAT). HEAT is an ACT government funded service for all Canberra and area residents designed to help them reduce their greenhouse gas emissions.

Come along and learn simple things you can do at home to use less energy and save money.

We have limited spaces so please RSVP by 1^st of November to.

Rachael Millsom

Project Officer

ACT otherWISE

(02) 6229 3211

otherwise@consact.org.au

Ecological Footprint Quiz

Take the Ecological Footprint Quiz (http://myfootprint.org), and then learn how Footprint research is done via a free, university-level educational web module, “Assessing Energy’s Footprint and Carbon Emissions.” It’s available at http://www.rprogress.org/energyfootprint/.

Eco Tips for Your Rental Home

The Eco section of the Sydney Morning Herald featured an article on how those in rental properties can ‘green it up’ and reduce their environmental impact.

Go here to see the 4 page guide.

And see here for some examples of what some other renters have done.

Are you renting? What action have you taken?

Personal / Household Water & Energy Use

So what is your personal or household water and energy use?

My water and electricity bills arrived the other day and I did a bit of analysis and looking around for comparative data. I wrote about it in my blog here: http://cjneil.tigblog.org/post/179829.

Essentially, so far in 2007, my personal water use is about 127.5 litres per day, and my electricity use is about 7.5 kw hours per day. Both compare pretty well to Australian and international (developed country) data. I’d like to bring it down further!

What is your use? What are you doing to use less?

Small easy ways to change the world

Check out the link below to see One Big Village’s 4 page guide on how to change the world, by providing you with info and links on how to reduce your home energy consumption, chnage the way you get around, the products you buy, the way you invest your money, and the way you vote…. relatively small but high impact in making your lifestyle more sustainable

 http://www.onebigvillage.com.au/onebigvillage/OBV_Files/get_involved.pdf

Big Picture Action Ideas from Al Gore

Hi everyone

Just been reading a speech Al Gore gave back in September.

You can read it here.

Some quick points I got:

• we – meaning all developed nations (with the hope that developing countries would follow our example) – need to adopt a forward looking energy policy that emphasises and values the future and recognises the necessity of doing what has to be done now – and creating the right political, economic and regulatory environment to make it happen
• this quote gets at the heart of the value shift required – then economics, politics, society, culture can follow:

“This is not a political issue. This is a moral issue. It affects the survival of human civilization. It is not a question of left vs. right; it is a question of right vs. wrong. Put simply, it is wrong to destroy the habitability of our planet and ruin the prospects of every generation that follows ours.”

•  the possibility of replacing a payroll tax with a carbon or pollution tax – I think we need some good economic incentives and regulation and this seems like a good one to me!
• there are some great examples of things already being done and other ideas on what can be done, such as:

At least one entire community — Ballard, a city of 18,000 people in Washington State — is embarking on a goal of making the entire community zero carbon

Democrats and Republicans joined together in the largest state, California, to pass legally binding sharp reductions in CO2 emissions.

295 American cities have now independently “ratified” and embraced CO2 reductions called for in the Kyoto Treaty.

85 conservative evangelical ministers publicly broke with the Bush-Cheney administration to call for bold action to solve the climate crisis.

Really, its a good read. A bit long, a bit complex in places, but I recommend it.