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The number 1 thing you can do about climate change right now is get vocal about it – talk to friends and colleagues, contact your member of parliament, advocate for renewable energy.
Feature articles
Meaningless march or massive momentum?
We have everything to gain by acting now on climate change, even if we turn out to be wrong about it
What is climate change? How is it relevant to you and what can you do about it?
We explore these questions by listing some books on a range of aspects, a selection of climate-related organisations that you might be interested in joining or seeking information from, and a comparison of the climate-related policies of the Greens, Labor and Liberal parties for recent federal and ACT elections, accompanied by a blog of commentary about what those policies mean for you.
We will continue adding new content so please follow us on Twitter and Facebook, use the contact form below to subscribe, and visit again soon.
We are developing two programs for Canberrans:
a consultancy service to assist small businesses to explore their social and environmental sustainability responsiblities and strategically manage climate risk, and
a more casual version to help community groups prepare for climate change through purposeful conversations.
If you are interested in participating in pilot versions of either of those programs, we would love to hear from you via the contact form below.
Plastics are an increasing scourge on our planet, with millions of tonnes each year ending up in our environment. Sachini Muller summarises the problem very clearly. The ABC's Craig Reucassel popularised the 'war on waste' in an excellent television series.
Since the ACT Government banned the use of light-weight plastic bags in supermarkets, Canberrans have taken to reusable shopping bags without a fuss. But this has made only the tiniest of dents in the volume of plastic waste. So, a couple of friends and I have started making small mesh bags out of old curtains and shoelaces to raise more awareness of the simple changes that we can all make in our everyday lives. This also is not enough: we need to take this problem to governments and the companies producing the plastics, but it's a start.
So far, we have sold these bags at school fetes and donated the proceeds to the hosting school. The reception has been 100% positive. We are not aiming to make a livelihood out of it, nor do we have any proprietary interest or claim any originality. So if you would like to take our idea and form your own little social group of bag sewers and spread the message about plastic pollution, please go ahead. You can download our posters or create your own. We have been selling them very successfully for $4 each or $10 for three and average about 40–50 bags per 3-hour fete. All we ask is that you act in the same spirit of altruism.
Kirsten Duncan is a science communication designer with a keen interest in how human society relates to the natural world. She is currently studying a Master of Climate Change at the Australian National University, Canberra, with a focus on communication, social transformation and behaviour change. With both a Bachelor of Science (UNSW) and an Advanced Diploma of Graphic Design (CIT) plus years of experience designing science publications and infographics for government and private sector clients, she is well placed to present complex technical information in a clear, concise, visual format. Although she is solely responsible for the creation of this site and its content, Kirsten has a wide network of colleagues in science, politics, communication, policy and design who act as sounding boards and informal advisors.
Kirsten is not a member of any political party. She contributes (very small) funds to the Climate Council of Australia, community action group GetUp! and a number of other environmental and social causes to help further independent scientific research and reporting and grass-roots action on climate change. She writes submissions to government policy processes and enquiries on environmental matters and is an active participant in the ACT Government's climate change strategy consultation process.
All views expressed on this website are Kirsten's own except where referenced from other sources.
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