Australia

The aim of this page is to recognise, celebrate and encourage the self-empowerment of community agency networks (CANs) and community groups' activism for climate, environment and many other sustainability topics across Australia. It's an introduction to local networks, groups, and events.

• Australia community resources is a separate page.

News

Networks and sustainability initiatives

• Aussies Living Simply, community focused on sustainability, permaculture, organic gardening, backyard livestock, simple living and stepping lightly on the planet
• Sustainability Street
• Transition Initiatives directory, (search by Country=Australia)
• Eco Villages Australia, added 16:25, 2 May 2021 (UTC)

International events

Global or International events

2021-2030, UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration, International community action events

Australia video

Community involvement

• The Australian Centre for Social Innovation, tacsi.org.au, added 15:57, 22 February 2021 (UTC)

Climate action

• farmers for climate action, represents more than 8000 farmers across all farming systems right across Australia...farmersforclimateaction.org.au, December 13, 2023, added 15:56, 1 February 2024 (UTC)
• Australian climate action groups on greenlivingpedia (category)
• Australian Youth Climate Coalition, see also: Visions
• Wikipedia:Category:Climate change organizations based in Australia (category)

From Beyond Zero Emissions

Beyond Zero Emissions is an Australian climate change solutions think-tank, working with academics and in particular the University of Melbourne-based Melbourne Energy Institute. Driven by an understanding of climate change as an urgent threat to the wellbeing of both human societies and the broader Earth system, it releases detailed information on proposed policy packages and technological plans, to help enable informed debate on climate change mitigation. The goal of these reports and plans is to demonstrate that a move to a net zero emission economy in Australia is achievable and affordable in a relatively rapid timeframe.

Campaigns: The Transition Decade (Wikipedia): non-partisan shared campaign which is coordinated by an alliance of Australian community, social, and environmental groups, non-profits and NGO's. The initiative forms a unified plan to campaign, lobby and work to restore safe climate conditions and a sustainable future.

Climate change in Australia

The per-capita carbon footprint in Australia was rated 12th in the world by PNAS in 2011.

In 2013, the CSIRO released a report stating Australia is getting hotter. In 2014, the Bureau of Meteorology released a report on the state of Australia's climate, which highlighted several key points, including the dramatic increase in Australia's temperatures (particularly nighttime temperatures) and the increasing frequency of bush fires, droughts and floods which have all been linked to climate change.

Ethical consumerism

Ethical consumer guide, The Ethical Consumer Group is a community based, not-for-profit network set up to help facilitate more sustainable purchasing practices for the everyday consumer.

Sustainable transport activism

• Wikipedia:Better Place#Australia, Environmental impact of transport in Australia, Public transport in Australia

Cycling activism

From Wikipedia:Cycling in Australia

Cycling in Australia is a common form of transport, recreation and sport.Many Australians ride regularly because it improves their health and is a convenient and fast way to get to their destination.

In 2020, 1.7 million bicycles were sold in Australia. As of 2023, around 15% of Australians rode a bicycle (including e-bicycles) in the previous week and 36.7% over the previous year. Australians no longer only ride for recreation - bicycle commuting is on the rise around Australia, with an increase in every state where counts took place. It is estimated that 20% of shared bike trips are replacing car travel. Across Australia, over one-third of riders used a bike for transport and various governments around Australia are encouraging more people to start riding. The New South Wales Government wants walking and bike riding to be the preferred way to make short trips and a viable, safe and efficient option for longer trips, and the Department of Transport (Victoria) recognises that active travel is the preferred choice for short trips.

Across Australia, 19% of people are cautious or confident bike riders. A further 42% of people are interested - do not currently ride but would like to. In NSW, 48% of people are "interested" in cycling but are "concerned" about safety. Cycling is a safer method of transport than driving. Cycling is less popular in Australia than in Europe, however cyclists make up one in forty road deaths and one in seven serious injuries.

Australia spends $714 per person on roads every year, and 90 cents goes to walking, wheeling and cycling. In NSW, the funding for active transport is approximately 0.2% of the total transport spend. The United Nations recommends nations spend 20% of their transport budgets on walking and cycling infrastructure. The NSW Government "Support in principle" funding alignment with the United Nations recommendation. The NSW government has estimated every kilometre cycled benefits the economy by $4.10. On average in Queensland, every $1 invested in cycling infrastructure returns $5 in benefits.

In areas with more investment in safe cycling infrastructure, cycling is becoming a mainstream mode of transport. In the City of Sydney, over one quarter of residents surveyed cycled within the last month. Twice-yearly counts at 68 intersections show a 15% increase in people riding year-on-year and a 168% increase since 2010. From 2019 to April 2024, there were more than 2.9 million share bike trips taken in the City of Sydney. In 2024, there were over 1.94 million share bike trips in the City of Sydney area.

• Wikipedia:Category:Cycling organizations in Australia (category)

Urban sustainability

Australia is one of the most urbanized countries in the world. Many Australian cities have large urban footprints and are characterised by an unsustainable low density urban sprawl. This places demand on infrastructure and services which contributes to the problems of land clearing, pollution, transport related emissions, energy consumption, invasive species, automobile dependency and urban heat islands.

The urban sprawl continues to increase at a rapid rate in most Australian cities, particularly the state capital cities, all of which (with the exception of Hobart) are metropoleis. In some centres, such as Sydney and Greater Western Sydney, Greater Melbourne and South East Queensland large metropolitan conurbations threaten to extend for hundreds of kilometres and based on current population growth rates are expected to become megacities in the 21st century.

In recent years, some cities have implemented transit-oriented development strategies to curb the urban sprawl. Notable examples include Melbourne 2030, South East Queensland Regional Plan and the Sydney Metropolitan Strategy.

Urban Reforestation, organization in Australia, which focuses on sustainable living in urban places.

Education for sustainability

Cool Australia, educating for a sustainable future

Ecological restoration Australia

From Ecological restoration Australia

This page is the beginnings of a portal for Australia community action in response to Ecological emergency. See Ecological restoration for topic overview.

About Australia

Campaigns

Don't Frack the Territory

Past events

• Nov 13 - 19, 2017, National Recycling Week
• Oct 17 - 23, 2016, National Bird Week, Aussie Backyard Bird Count
• May 4 - 10, 2015, International Composting Awareness Week Australia
• March 23 -29, 2015, Meat Free Week Australia
• March 2, 2014, Clean Up Australia Day
• October 3 - 12, 2014, National Organic Week
• Ocotber 15, 2014, Ride2Work Day
• October 18, 2014, National Divestment Day

From Wikipedia:Australia

Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and numerous smaller islands. It has a total area of 7,688,287 km² (2,968,464 sq mi), making it the sixth-largest country in the world and the largest in Oceania. Australia is the world's flattest and driest inhabited continent. It is a megadiverse country, and its size gives it a wide variety of landscapes and climates including deserts in the interior and tropical rainforests along the coast.

Near you

Adelaide - Melbourne - Sydney
New South Wales - Queensland - South Australia - Tasmania - Victoria (Australia) - Western Australia

External links

• Drought in Australia, Environment of Australia, Environmental issues in Australia, Environmental organizations based in Australia (category), Water security in Australia

Greenlivingpedia: Australia (category)

• Department of the Environment, Australian Government