Green Action News - Autumn 2009 by Environment Victoria

WO R K I N G T O G E T H E R P R O T E C T I N G V I C T O R I A ’ S E N V I R O N M E N T

ISSUE 7 Z AUTUMN 2009

People Power Victoria’s River Red Gums Given a Fighting Chance

PLUS Australia’s climate movement ups the ante

THIS ISSUE Precious Red Gums Protected Green Action News Issue 7, Autumn 2009 Design 2Fish Productions Print Print Bound Contributing writers Fraser Brindley, Andrea Coffey, Victoria McKenzie-McHarg, Vicki Kyriakakis, Juliet Le Feuvre, Russell Fisher, Sacha Myers, Kelly O’Shanassy, Mark Wakeham Editor Vicki Kyriakakis (03) 9341 8125 editor@envict.org.au Advertising sales enquiries Vicki Kyriakakis (03) 9341 8125 editor@envict.org.au Membership enquiries Jennifer Jordan (03) 9341 8124 jennifer.jordan@envict.org.au Media enquiries Sacha Myers (03) 9341 8113 sacha.myers@envict.org.au Green Action News is an Environment Victoria publication. For more information, visit www.environmentvictoria.org.au

3 6

We voted for more than 5 per cent difference

Our northern Victoria study tour

Take back your TV!

PALM gives the Moorabool a helping hand

8 11

Australia’s climate movement ups the ante

The Mitchell River: our cultural jewel

Waste awards dump on packaging losers

Young leaders share their stories in new ﬁlm

In memorium

4 7

10 12 15

This year, let’s take giant steps forward...together > Kelly O’Shanassy, Chief Executive Officer

From the very beginning, we knew we’d have our work cut out for us this year. But Environment Victoria is ready to stand together with all Victorians and take giant steps forward. IT’S BEEN A SAD start to the year for us here at Environment Victoria, with the tragic loss of our long-time volunteer Russell Pitt, our colleague Jenny Barnett from the VNPA and James Gormley from Greenpeace. Like many others who perished in the Black Saturday ﬁres, they lived in and visited regional Victoria because they loved the environment that we all work so hard to protect. To those of you affected by the ﬁres, we extend our sympathies and support. It has also seen the loss, of our beloved board member Pam Keating in a tragic car accident on Australia Day. I know Pam to have been an incredibly

inspiring, warm and giving person and we’ll miss her dearly. What Pam, Russell, Jenny and James worked so hard for was a better future for Victoria’s environment. It is this common goal that has inspired our work since our inception in 1969. Now, as we celebrate our 40th anniversary, we want to take a moment to remember those who came before us. Thanks to them, whole segments of Victoria’s environment can still be enjoyed that would otherwise have been lost. To meet the multiple challenges that face us now and fulﬁll their legacy, we are going to have to work harder than ever. And more than at any other time, it will be grassroots community action that will make the difference. The international community will be meeting in Copenhagen in November to agree on a new way forward on climate change. Many are calling it our last best chance.

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Our rivers are visibly suffering and we have little time to turn the situation around. And the Commissioner for the Environment has just conﬁrmed what we’ve been saying for years – our unsustainable consumption is among our biggest problems. For 40 years, we’ve mobilised Victorians to safeguard our environment. But we have come to a crucial point in our journey. All across the state, people are raising their voices to demand that our leaders take our environment seriously. It won’t be easy and there are no easy answers, but there is hope. That hope rests in our combined determination to create a better future. You may feel that your one voice can’t make a difference, but together our voices can change the world. Small steps are no longer enough. This year, let’s take the giant leaps forward we know are possible.

people power

Precious Red Gums to be protected in national parks > Sacha Myers, Media Officer and Juliet Le Feuvre, Healthy Rivers Campaign Manager

During the quiet days between Christmas and New Year, the Brumby Government announced a very welcome decision to protect northern Victoria’s River Red Gum forests and wetlands in national parks along the Murray, Goulburn and Ovens Rivers. ENVIRONMENT VICTORIA APPLAUDED the government’s decision to stand by its 2006 election promise to protect River Red Gum and wetlands in Victoria, and said that the creation of the parks was one of the most important conservation commitments ever made in Victoria. “The new parks will protect native plants and wildlife and will help reduce the damaging effects of logging and

grazing on the internationally signiﬁcant River Red Gum forests,” Juliet Le Feuvre, Healthy Rivers campaigner said. “The parks will also continue to provide opportunities for camping and other recreational activities, while creating new jobs and revenue for the local economy through tourism.” Jonathan La Nauze, Friends of the Earth Red Gum campaigner, also

the national parks are a start but our river red gums need water to survive

TAKE ACTION You can help us lobby the government for extra water by writing to the Premier. Congratulate him on his decision but remind him that existing entitlements will not be enough to keep the forests alive in a drying climate. Write to the premier at john.brumby@parliament.vic.gov.au.

welcomed the historic and far-sighted decision to create Victoria’s first ever jointly managed national park. “For the first time in Victoria, a national park will be co-managed with its Traditional Owners. This will not only deliver good environmental outcomes, but will help provide important social and economic outcomes for indigenous groups such as the Yorta Yorta people,” Mr La Nauze said. Ms Le Feuvre said however that there was one key element missing from the government’s plan: water. “The forests and wetlands have endured years of drought and are dying from lack of water. Red Gum forests are flood-dependent ecosystems and national park status alone will not ensure their survival,” she said. In their final report to the state government, the Victorian Environment Assessment Council (VEAC) recommended that appropriate allocations of water should be delivered through new or existing national and state water programs but the government is yet to announce how and if they’re going to provide these water allocations. “Environment Victoria will continue to lobby the government for extra water for the River Red Gums and we encourage everyone to help by writing to the Premier, congratulating him on his decision to create the national parks, but reminding him that existing entitlements will not be enough to keep the forests alive in a drying climate. “Without adequate water the River Red Gum forests will not get the full benefit of the new national parks and will continue their increasingly alarming decline.” The decision to create the River Red Gum national parks follows more than four years of independent investigations and public consultation, and a lengthy campaign led by the Victorian National Parks Association, The Wilderness Society, and Friends of the Earth with staunch support from Environment Victoria and its members.

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safe climate

Australia’s climate movement ups the ante

No jobs on a dead planet. Photo: Peter Campbell Below: Hundreds of Australians from around the country joined hands around Parliament House in February to declare a climate emergency. Photo: Peter Campbell

> Victoria McKenzie-McHarg, Safe Climate Campaigner

While many of us were bitterly disappointed when the federal government announced a measly 5-15 per cent emissions reduction target last year, the climate movement hasn’t stood around moping. LAST MONTH, I ATTENDED our country’s first national Climate Action Summit in Canberra. Over 500 people from 150 community climate action groups and environmental NGO’s came together for four days to reflect upon the first year of the Rudd government. We recognised the enormous challenge that lies ahead of us and

began to formulate a positive way forward. On the last day, we formed a human chain around Parliament House to remind our politicians who they are representing. The climate movement is united: we are unable to support Kevin Rudd’s Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme (CPRS) and we’ll be campaigning hard

to stop it from being passed through Parliament in its current form. The government needs to go back to the drawing board and get it right. We’ll be campaigning for renewable energy and a just transition away from fossil fuels. We’ll also be calling on the government to go to the Copenhagen international climate negotiations at the end of the year with a strong emissions reduction target. The challenges we face are perhaps unprecedented, as the polluting industries and lobby groups wine and dine our politicians. But this year, so is our will-power as we come together to tell our leaders that enough is enough. We can make a difference, but only if we stand united. Get involved in Environment Victoria’s Climate Change campaign this year and help us build the movement to make the change we need. Email victoria@envict.org.au to ﬁnd out more.

a Leaking ship: Victoria’s solar laws cop criticism > Victoria McKenzie-McHarg, Safe Climate Campaigner

A recent government leak shows that it’s not just the community crying foul on Victoria’s solar laws. THE BRUMBY GOVERNMENT’S proposed solar feed-in laws have been under attack from environment and community groups, unions, and business ever since they were ﬁrst announced in April 2008. Now, an investigation undertaken by The Age newspaper has unearthed Cabinet documents revealing that the proposed solar laws have copped criticism internally, with many parts of the Brumby Government supporting stronger solar laws. The Cabinet documents show that claims about the potential cost to householders of a German-style solar feed-in-tariff were completely fabricated and are not supported by cabinet

submissions or economic modelling, which found a real cost of just $7 a per household per year. Campaigns Director, Mark Wakeham said the credibility of the government’s scheme was in tatters. “The government’s own modeling found that under the scheme they’ve proposed, the uptake of solar on rooftops would be no greater by 2020 than if they did not introduce the scheme. However, the modeling also found that under the scheme advocated by Environment Victoria and others, the uptake of solar would be seven times greater by 2020.” It’s not too late for the Brumby Government to create a real solar feed-in tariff to get solar panels on roofs, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and create green jobs for Victorians. Environment Victoria is calling on Premier Brumby to get it right and make sure that Victorians are seeing all of the beneﬁts that solar power can offer.

A split has surfaced within the Brumby Government as Victoria’s ineffective solar laws take a beating from within. 4

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YOU CAN HELP US! Write a letter to your local state MP, Premier Brumby at john.brumby@parliament.vic.gov.au and opposition leader Ted Baillieu at ted.beillieu@parliament.vic.gov.au to show your support for a real solar feed-in tariff and green jobs for Victoria.

For a brieﬁng on the Cabinet leaks, visit www.environmentvictoria.org.au or contact Victoria McKenzie-McHarg to ﬁnd out how you can get involved at victoria@envict.org.au or on (03) 9341 8112.

Environment Victoria would like to thank Rinnai Solar for their generous donation of a solar hot water system for last year’s Walk Against Warming

safe climate

We voted for more than 5 per cent difference > Victoria McKenzie McHarg, Safe Climate Campaigner and Mark Wakeham, Campaigns Director

The Rudd Government’s Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme is so off target, it abandons the millions of Australians who voted for real action on climate change. IN DECEMBER 2007, just weeks after being elected Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd went to Kyoto negotiations in Bali and ratified the Kyoto Protocol. His words were promising: “Australia now stands ready to assume its responsibility.” Just a year later, however, the federal government’s White Paper on the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme (CPRS) – their central policy on climate change – has broken this promise and sent waves of shock and dismay through the environmental community. The Rudd Government appears to have given up on safeguarding the climate and protecting Australia’s interests in favour of pollution-as-usual. The government’s CPRS is so fundamentally flawed, it is difficult to know where to begin outlining its problems. The 5-15 per cent targets it proposes are unscientific, inadequate and destructive to future international negotiations. They would be the nail in the coffin of Australia’s great iconic sites and jeopardize cities and countries around the world. The loopholes it carves out for the big pollutors mean that Australia’s emissions could actually rise. It destroys all incentives for individuals, communities, businesses and governments to take voluntary action to reduce emissions. And it hands over enormous amounts of public money to compensate big pollutors. The combined impact: a low carbon price and inadequate price

The future is in our hands. Join the movement and help us create a safe climate future.

JOIN THE MOVEMENT! signal to change behaviour. Let’s remember why economists proposed emissions trading in the ﬁrst place. It is theoretically meant to encourage a shift to a low carbon future at the lowest possible cost by setting a price signal across the whole economy. Let’s also remember why we need to reduce emissions: we have a global emergency that threatens all life on the planet. Yet the Rudd Government is proposing feeble steps – that undermine all price signals through a severely compromised scheme. In its current form, Environment Victoria cannot support the CPRS. We will be joining the broader climate movement to campaign against the scheme and send the CPRS back to the drawing board. We want all other parties to use their inﬂuence to either improve or, failing that, block the CPRS legislation from becoming law.

This year is the big one. If the CPRS is legislated in its current form ahead of the Copenhagen meeting, Australia will be back to its old tricks of preventing global progress on climate change. The Rudd Government has broken its promise to the millions of Australians who voted for real action on climate change. And MP’s must understand that governments who fail to act on climate change will be rejected at the ballot box. But we need your help. Let your federal and state MP know that the scheme represents a clear breach of the ALP’s election promise to tackle climate change. To read Environment Victoria’s full analysis on the Government’s ﬂawed CPRS or donate to our PEOPLE’S ACTION PLAN on climate change, visit www.environmentvictoria.org.au. Contact Victoria McKenzie-McHarg to ﬁnd out how to become part of the climate movement at victoria@envict.org.au or on (03) 9341 8112

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your river

> Sacha Myers, Media Officer

The Mitchell River: our cultural jewel East Gippsland’s Mitchell River is one of only two Victorian rivers that remain dam-free systems. With its rich, ecological and cultural heritage, the Mitchell justiﬁably enjoys a special listing under the Heritage Rivers Act. Flowing through high cliffs and gorges like the culturally signiﬁcant Den of Nargun, the Mitchell River system is a national jewel. Here are just some of the stories of those who live, love and care for it.

NO DAM FOR THE

MITCHELL RIVER! 6

Twenty years ago, Environment Victoria stood side by side with the East Gippsland community to oppose moves to dam the Mitchell River. So we are disappointed to see the Liberal and National parties resurrecting the dam debate. Environment Victoria stands ready once more to defend this magnificent river system and the life it supports. The internationally significant Gippsland Lakes and surrounding wetlands depend upon a free-flowing Mitchell River for their health. They are an important haven for the world’s declining waterbird populations and the region’s greatest asset for tourism, lifestyle, commercial and recreational fishing and boating.

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YASMIN ALY, Park Ranger

ROGER & ROHAN BILNEY, Ecologists

Yasmin Aly has had a love affair with the Mitchell River since she was a child. It was this love that led her to promise her mother that she would one day become a park ranger. Years later, Yasmin has kept that promise and is now the Ranger-in-Charge at Mitchell River National Park and other parks and reserves. “I’ve been coming here since I was a little girl. We used to come down here to the Lakes in summertime,” Yasmin says. Now, Yasmin spends some of her time exploring the park’s indigenous cultural heritage. “There are quite a

Respected ecologist Roger Bilney has spent much of his recreational and working life involved with the environment. For Rohan, Roger’s son, his father’s inﬂuence was instrumental in his decision to study the Mitchell River catchment as part of his PhD. Rohan says his pathway was inevitable. “I haven’t really known anything else. I grew up with books on nature and wildlife and often went camping in the bush. I was always asking what that bird was and what that plant was,” Rohan says. Roger chuckles when he recalls the time he searched with his sons for

number of sites, one in particular is very special: the Den of Nargun. It’s a women’s place. It’s a very sensitive place and most of the male members of the indigenous community won’t go there because it’s so signiﬁcant… The Mitchell is wild, precious and makes you feel at peace. That is what I want to preserve and make sure that it still looks like this when my daughter grows up and when her children grow up.”

rock wallabies. “I nearly killed the boys chasing after rock wallabies! I was scrambling up a steep slope with the boys behind me and dislodging large rocks that were rolling down the hill towards them. Almost cleaned them up!” Roger and Rohan both say the river has changed over time, with lack of rain a major issue. “Back in ’78, the river broke its banks eight times in one year. We’re not seeing the river break its banks like that anymore.”

Environment Victoria has written to Liberal Leader Ted Ballieu and Nationals Leader Peter Ryan to discourage their parties’ – from pushing for a dam on the Mitchell and offered our alternative vision for meeting Melbourne’s water needs. Our vision, Water Security, Healthy Rivers, outlined in the last edition of Green Action News, is a ten point action plan to secure Melbourne’s water future through better stormwater management, improved water efﬁciency and greater use of recycled water, while delivering much-needed environmental ﬂows to our stressed rivers.

ROBYN GRANT, Mitchell River Protector Twenty years ago, Robyn Grant helped form a group to stop the proposed damming of the Mitchell River. Now, as damming talks stir once again, she’s just as passionate and determined as ever to prevent one of Victoria’s last wild rivers from being touched by the heavy hand of man. For the past 23 years, Robyn has lived and worked on her property located at the edge of the Mitchell River National Park. She loves the area for its remoteness and natural diversity and spends much of her spare time involved with environmental issues,

including campaigning for a healthy Mitchell River. “A dam would be just another death knell for the Gippsland Lakes,” Robyn says. “The Mitchell River will always be under threat for damming, but I think there are enough people passionate enough to stop it again.” She smiles cunningly. “I know I would be joining the campaign.”

Help us stand up for this precious river system. Let Ted Baillieu and Peter Ryan know what you think of a dam on the Mitchell. Email ted.baillieu@parliament.vic.gov.au and peter.ryan@parliament.vic.gov.au. Visit www.environmentvictoria.org.au for the full Your River stories and photos. Or contact Leonie Duncan, Healthy Rivers Campaign Manager for more information on (03) 9341 8120 or at leonie.duncan@envict.org.au.

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on the campaign trail

Our northern Victoria Bright and early on a hot January morning, the Healthy Rivers team headed out of the cool conﬁnes of our Green Building home on a three day study tour of northern Victoria. > Juliet Le Feuvre, Healthy Rivers Campaign Manager

WE WERE ON A MISSION: to stimulate our thinking on how we could solve the big questions being debated across the state. How can we have both healthy rivers and prosperous communities in a rapidly drying climate? How can farmers reduce their water use and maintain a viable business? What assistance do they need to move away from water intensive practices and into something more sustainable? Where and how should the Commonwealth Government water buyback be targeted and how can it be integrated with irrigation modernisation? These and many other questions were revolving through our minds as we travelled around northern Victoria. As we visited farmers, catchment managers, water companies and modernizers of irrigation infrastructure, we were constantly reminded why academics call water management a ‘wicked’ problem, one to which there are no simple solutions. Most people agreed that incentives and assistance for farmers to improve their irrigation practices are readily available, but farmers who want to decrease their reliance on irrigation and move into dryland farming tread a much more difﬁcult path. Some felt that the key skills farmers needed to make the change were knowledge and conﬁdence, others felt substantial cash incentives were essential. We visited the owners of a property near Boort who decided to break with 100 years of family tradition and move to a system of ‘holistic grazing management’ where sheep are rotated through a series of small paddocks of native pasture. The last few years have seen an increase in the size of their farm, a big reduction in water use and

other inputs like fertilizer, weed killer and labour costs, and an increase in proﬁtability. One of the owners’ key reasons for change was to improve their risk management – irrigation water was becoming too unreliable to provide a basis for their business and they could make more money by selling any water they were allocated and running their property as a dryland enterprise. It was an inspiring example

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of how change can benefit both the environment and the farmers’ quality of life and income stream. Others find change more difficult. A group of farmers on the Goulburn, more heavily dependent on irrigation water, have become increasingly frustrated with their inability to stitch up a satisfactory deal to sell their irrigation entitlement to an environmental manager and be

study tour

Speaking with local communities > Mark Wakeham, Campaigns Director

I’VE SPENT MUCH of the past decade thinking about and working on climate change. However our northern Victorian trip was truly eye-opening in terms of seeing climate change and drought impacts ﬁrst-hand. Many of the farmers we spoke to could see the writing on the wall in terms of the future viability of irrigation in some of the more marginal areas. The encouraging thing is that many of them are keen to move towards dryland farming and to sell their water for its return to the struggling rivers. As yet we haven’t developed the package that looks after the environment, famers and regional communities in making this transition. Developing this package will be critical to our campaign to protect and restore northern Victoria’s rivers. I was surprised by the willingness of the people we met in northern Victoria to have what must

top: almost 80 per cent of the northern Victorian population of the endangered native water lily can be found in Tahbilk Lagoon. left: Environmental water breathes new life into Reedy Swamp. right: Healthy Rivers campaigners Leonie Duncan (front) and Juliet Le Feuvre (back) at the site of a recent watering in Gunbower Forest. (Photos: Leonie Duncan and Juliet Le Feuvre)

compensated for shutting down their irrigation system and becoming dryland farmers. During the trip we also took the opportunity to visit some of the wetlands that have recently received environmental water and see for ourselves the sharp contrast between watered sites and those literally dying for a drink. The agencies charged with modernising the irrigation system to reduce losses face a massive task in achieving their goals within their timeframes. They have developed a blueprint of which parts of the irrigation system should be modernized, but are only just beginning to talk to farmers about the opportunities it presents for them to become more water efﬁcient. Right across northern Victoria people will have to grapple with the issues of how to coordinate modernisation with

retiring unsuitable areas from irrigation and buying back the water for the environment. It is on this interface that we feel Environment Victoria has the most to offer – seeking to identify what help farmers need to adjust and where it might come from, providing case studies of successful or potential adjustment away from irrigation, and making the link between successful adjustment and the water rivers need to survive and thrive. The discussion of climate driven change in agricultural practice often fails to make that connection- that healthy communities will still be dependent on healthy rivers. Over the next few months we will be working to come up with solutions that are attractive to both the state and federal governments and that help regional communities towards a more sustainable future.

be a difﬁcult conversation about the future of their communities in the face of climate change and drier conditions. The discussions were much more advanced than the understanding shown by our political decision-makers, both in terms of acknowledging the needs of our rivers and the fact that climate change will re-make our maps and our regional landscapes. Through our collective action we get to decide how much the climate and landscape changes and what replaces the current industries in unviable areas. At Environment Victoria we’re going to undertake a lot more work identifying new economic opportunities in northern Victoria that can help to restore and protect ecosystems. Otherwise we’ll be stuck in the current deadlock where rivers are parched, farmers are poor and regional towns are scared for their future.

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production & consumption

Waste awards dump on packaging losers

> Fraser Brindley, Production & Consumption

Once upon a time, buying something at a supermarket meant picking up the product and not much else. Now, it’s hard to ﬁnd anything that isn’t wrapped, bound and over-packaged. SOME PACKAGING IS BENEFICIAL, reducing product breakage and increasing longevity. A lot, however, is simply designed to increase sales. Having a package that is bigger, brighter, a new shape or new texture can override any consideration of the impact on our environment.

Environment Victoria’s DUMP Awards (Damaging and Useless Materials in Packaging) are now in their ﬁfth year. Keenly watched by industry and government alike, they evaluate the sustainability of the packaging for everyday supermarket items. This year, however, we’ve also introduced the KEEP Awards (Kerbing the Environmental Effect of Packaging) to acknowledge examples of environmentally friendly packaging and improved practices.

HERE ARE THE WINNERS… AND LOSERS FOR 2009.

DUMPAWARDS Excessive Use of Material

Colgate-Palmolive has won the Poorly Designed for Recycling Award for its Dynamo concentrate laundry reﬁll pack, which though not recyclable spruiks that it takes up less space in landﬁll.

KEEPAWARDS Well designed for recycling

DUMPAWARDS Poorly Designed for Recycling

This year’s Golden DUMP, and winner of the Excessive Use of Material Category, is Coles Supermarket for its prepackaged lemons. The lemon is one of the hardier items of fresh produce in a supermarket. Nonetheless, Coles have seen fit to put five lemons on a flexible plastic tray and enclose them in a sealed layer of plastic.

Smith’s Stax potato crisps have won the KEEP Award for being Well Designed for Recycling. Smith’s have taken the humble chip out of the familiar but unrecyclable ﬂexible packet and put it into a more compact recyclable plastic cylinder.

KEEPAWARDS Going Forwards

KEEPAWARDS Minimal Use of Material

DUMPAWARDS Going Backwards

Healtheries is this year’s winner of the Going Backwards Award for their Kids Care fruit puree, which comes in a nonrecyclable satchel. Compared to eating fruit itself, or other packaging options, the packaging of this item is highly regressive.

Jarrah instant coffee is this year’s winner of the Going Forwards Award and the inaugural Golden KEEP. Instant coffee is commonly sold in glass jars which can weigh three to four times as much as the product itself. Jarrah’s recyclable plastic container drastically reduces the packaging weight and therefore the emissions involved in transportation of the product.

Contrasting their DUMP Award, Colgate-Palmolive has won the KEEP Award for Minimal Use of Material. Being a concentrate, the Dynamo 4 in 1 detergent reduces transportation impacts dramatically. The bottle for the product is recyclable as well as having a wide opening for easy reﬁlling.

For more information, contact Fraser Brindley on (03) 9341 8103 or at fraser.brindley@envict.org.au. 10

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DESPITE AN ESTIMATED 17 million tellies in, or on their way to, landﬁll in Australia, there is currently no recycling scheme for our old television sets. . This is not only an enourmous waste of resources - all the energy and water that goes into making a television is lost when it is thrown into landﬁll - it is

The digital age is coming to television and along with it a new icon of suburbia: the old TV on our nature strips. also a highly dangerous practice. Like all electronic waste, televisions contain a lot of toxic materials. In particular, old style cathode ray screens contain a lot of lead. Environment Victoria is launching a ‘TV Take Back’ campaign aimed at getting a television recycling scheme introduced in Australia. And this time, industry is also calling for intervention. Product Stewardship Australia, representing over a dozen major brands and retailers, is calling for regulations and standards to ensure

> Fraser Brindley, Production & Consumption

Environment Victoria is asking supporters to help us create a photo montage of old TV’s. If you see an old television on a nature strip, you can take a photo and email or MMS to oldtv@envict.org.au.

HELP US CREATE OUR CAMPAIGN!

that all consumer electronics companies fulﬁll their environmental and recycling responsibilities in a fair and equitable way. A television recycling scheme would not only recover resources and avoid toxic waste, but would help create new, green collar jobs. Environment Victoria is calling on the Victorian and Federal Environment Ministers to support the introduction of an Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) scheme for televisions.

TAKE BACK YOUR TV!

production & consumption

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sustainable living

Young leaders share their stories in new film Participants of Environment Victoria’s latest Multicultural Leaders in Sustainability (MLS) program have shared their stories in a new short ﬁlm, directed by Michael Allen and produced by Scarab Studio.

Environment Victoria’s latest environmental ambassadors are taking the sustainability message back to their communities.

AMONG THE PARTICIPANTS interviewed for the ﬁlm was 20 year old Aluel Maker, who migrated to Australia from Sudan three years ago. “I used to hear about global warming and climate change but I didn’t even ask what it means,” Aluel says. “Even when I was in Africa, there used to be some ﬂoods and then I didn’t know it was because of climate change. Some people used to say it wasn’t like this a long time ago.” Aluel is one of 12 participants in the program who graduated in December last year. Aluel says the program has helped her in many ways. “I have met many friends and learned different things which I didn’t know before.” Fellow participant Ali Majoka, who

migrated to Australia as a refugee with his family from Pakistan, said that the program had other beneﬁts to. “I think there’s something really good about this program as well. It brings together people from different races, all different cultural backgrounds together. It helps break down prejudices and misconceptions.” Speaking at the graduation, project manager Charlie Davie said that while the MLS program was a leadership course, many people had different ideas about what made a good leader. But what the young leaders consistently showed was an appetite to get involved. “This group of leaders has generously committed large amounts

Seniors see green

complete environmental assessments of their own homes, along with a range of new and exciting green products to try at home. Two of the attendees Judy and Al McLean, who for several decades have been eco-mindful, learned about efﬁcient waste handling and made many changes including installing a 5000 litre water tank and removing their lawn. “There are things that we’re doing that we hadn’t learnt,” confesses Judy. “It’s changing [our] behaviour and that’s really what the workshops made us more aware of. And it doesn’t take any more effort to get into the habit of doing things like putting a bucket in the shower when you turn it on.”

of their time to work on environmental projects. They are courageous. It’s not easy to work for change in the community, to encourage people to change, to expose and share your own beliefs and aspirations.” Leadership activities undertaken by the group included a community expo information stall, presentations to community groups, a coastal adventure day, showerhead and light globe exchanges and developing an organic food garden.

You can download the ﬁlm online at www.environmentvictoria.org.au or contact Sophie Moncrieff on (03) 9341 8108 for more information.

s Dozens of seniors took up the Eco-Wise Action challenge in Geelong recently in an effort to reduce their environmental impact. THROUGH A SERIES of four free workshops targeting water and energy savings, and waste reduction, Environment Victoria encouraged seniors to lead the way in going “green”. Participants received information booklets enabling them to

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Meanwhile Al, an unretired historian, says he’s been spreading the green word with gusto. “One of the yardsticks by which I measured our interest from the course was do we talk about it to others and I think we’ve bored people stiff with saying we’ve done this wonderful course and we’ve got these new things we’re doing.” With a chuckle he adds, “I know our children are probably doing things just to keep us quiet.”

Environment Victoria’s Seniors Eco-Wise program is funded by the Sustainability Fund. For more information, contact Katelyn Fryer on (03) 9341 8102 or visit Environment Victoria at www.environmentvictoria.org.au. Edited article reproduced from the Geelong Times.

environmental champions

PALM gives the Moorabool a helping hand This time last year, Green Action News reported on the declining state of the Moorabool River. A year later, Environment Victoria representative Cameron Steele and the group he helped co-found – People for a Living Moorabool (PALM) – have breathed new life into the ailing river. GAN: Every person’s love for the environment is born somewhere or in something. What was it for your group? PALM: People for A Living Moorabool (PALM) was formed after a group of community members met in April last year at a place called Hunt’s Bridge. We were united in our distress at the state of the river and our determination to see that something was done about it.

GAN: As a group who cares about the environment, what’s the biggest challenge you’ve had to face? PALM: Our biggest challenge was to raise the plight of the river in a period of extreme water scarcity. Both Ballarat and Geelong were on severe water restrictions and the forecast looked quite dire. In that climate there was a very real sense of people and organisations giving up on the Moorabool River. It seemed too great an ask for people to take notice much less act.

GAN: What was the turning point in the campaign to change the established approach to the Moorabool River? PALM: Rather than a speciﬁc turning point, it was an accumulation of elements that together made the argument presented to the responsible water authorities overwhelming. We compiled a pictorial record of the river’s deterioration; we drew on

reports from the Victorian Government’s own scientists that highlighted the river’s desperate condition; we gained international support via a visit to the river by writer Maude Barlow (later appointed as the UN special adviser on water); we produced a powerful DVD presentation of the river and its history; and we were able to gain solid support from the media.

GAN: What lessons do you think could be applied in the larger campaign to safeguard Victoria’s environment? PALM: Expecting and demanding a responsible level of stewardship from our government and relevant departments is pivotal. Change is often only achieved through them but it is important to articulate a clear way forward. Frequently departmental people on the ground may be quite supportive but there needs to be wider lobbying from the community to achieve environmental gains.

GAN: What advice do you have for people who would like to do more to safeguard the environment but don’t know where to start? PALM: Knowledge of the issue is terribly important. There are many passionate people out there and the more information and understanding they have the better advocates for the environment they can become. Passion and talent will outstrip numbers. Also if your group has developed a media message getting it out in a timely and professional manner is vital.

GAN: What are your hopes and visions for the future? PALM: In the long term our vision for the Moorabool River is to see it receive the 20,000ML of water needed to achieve minimum environmental ﬂows that it requires to survive. We hope that through our actions we can continue to raise the proﬁle of the river so that people can recognise what a great asset they have, one worth the effort of protection and enhancement.

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