Welcome back! Today’s session is on saving water! But First! (5 minutes) Spend 5 minutes or less having a brief chat about how you’ve all managed with your actions from the Food session: • Have you carried out the actions you committed to? • What was hard? • What do you still want to get done (and what barriers do you need to remove to do it?) Kickstarter Activity (10 mins) Go around the room and spend a minute each describing what you’ve noticed about your water consumption since you last met and answer a few of the questions below. Questions for the activity 1 How do you all feel about water consumption and the amount of water we use in our households? 2 On a scale of 1 to 10, how committed are you to reducing your water waste? 2 Do you think there are opportunities in your home for you to reduce your water waste? If you haven’t done so already, be sure to take a photo of your water bill, or photos of your last couple of water bills now, with your smart phone, and send them to [email protected] so we can benchmark your water consumption as you work through the program. See Privacy policy and Confidentiality of data here for more details on the data collection process, and how we ensure your information is kept private and secure. Why should we try to reduce our water consumption? The Benefits • Reduce energy use and greenhouse gas emissions: It takes energy to pump, treat and supply water to our homes. We then use energy to heat that water. For every drop of water we don’t use, we are saving energy and reducing greenhouse gas emissions. • Save money: By reducing our water consumption we can save money on our water bills. If you own your own home, you can save money on your water bills, and if you rent a property, you can save money on your gas or electricity bills (gas if your water is heated by gas, and electricity if you water is heated electrically). • Save money: Water is an increasingly scarce resource. Australians are increasingly becoming more water-conscious, with an increasing risk of severe droughts, so the more careful we are with our use of water, the better. 48
Water consumption in the ACT 150 litres ICON’s benchmark for efficient daily water consumers 25% ACT 2023 water consumption reduction target 138,000 litres 220 litres Total ACT per capita water consumption (including industries and households); the lowest in the country Average daily water consumption = more than you can fit into a 400L fridge every single day Cutting water waste – here’s our game plan Every day, about a third of the water we use runs down the drain or toilet without being used. The silver lining here is that there’s so much opportunity for us to cut water waste, cut our bills and cut our carbon pollution! There are also some easy things we can do (like making small behavioural changes and opting for water- efficient products) to cut our water waste and feel great about it. 49
Step 1: Calculating our water usage (10 mins) Did you all find your last couple of water bills? How much water did you consume in your last billing period? As a reference point, the ACT’s target water consumption per person is 150L per day. If you’ve got a calculator on one of your phones, you can work out roughly how much daily water your household currently consumes per person, by dividing the total amount of water used on the bill, by the total number of days in the billing period, and then dividing the answer by the total number of people in the household [total usage ÷ number of days in billing period] ÷ number of people in household = average daily water use per person Get a feel for where you could make the biggest cuts to your water waste by using this handy online tool from ICON Water. Completing it takes about 2 minutes. If you’re not sure about one of the questions, just enter your best guess. Once you’ve filled out each of the boxes in The Water Savings Calculator to get your estimate of household water use, play around with some of the entries (for example, when I changed ‘standard shower head’ to a ‘4 star showerhead’ for my household, it cut our home’s water consumption in half) to try to figure out where you could make some of the biggest inroads into your water consumption. How to use this tool 1 Type the link above into your web browser and press enter 2 Scroll down to the bottom of the page 3 Select the number of people in your household 4 Click the ‘launch’ button 5 Click on each of the boxes and select the options that best describe your household to get an estimate of your daily usage. 6 Once you have this, play around with some of the options for different boxes to see how you can reduce your water consumption.] Step 2: Decide the actions you’ll take (15 mins) There are some super easy actions you can take to save water in your home, and they don’t have to include taking sponge baths! Each of the actions below can significantly reduce the amount of water that your household uses. Note that you may do some of these activities already – if so, go you! Tier 1: Easy-peasy lemon squeezy (Beginner level) If you have a dishwasher, only run it when it’s chock-a-block full • Also select the ‘eco’ or ‘energy saving’ mode on the dishwasher if it has that option • To help yourself change the habit, stick a post-it note on the dishwasher that says ‘don’t run me unless I’m full’ (CAUTION: If you live with housemates or family, make sure you flag this in person first – don’t be that passive-aggressive note leaver!) 50
If you don’t have a dishwasher, fill the sink up with water when you’re washing the dishes Don’t let the water run through the drain as you rinse things. If you don’t like dirty dishwater, invest in some rubber gloves to do the washing up. Flush your toilet less • If you and your housemates or family aren’t grossed out by this option, you can apply the famous rule “If it’s yellow let it mellow, if it’s brown flush it down.” And close the lid, of course. • Also use the half-flush whenever you can. You can even put a little sticky note over the full flush asking guests (and reminding yourself) to use the half flush. Don’t shave or clean your teeth with the water running • At the bathroom sink, start turning off the tap when you brush your teeth. Write “Note to self: turn off the tap!” on a post-it note and sticky tape it to your bathroom mirror / in front of the sink basin. • Same deal when you’re shaving - Run a little water in the sink and rinse your razor in that. Stick a post-it note on the bathroom wall or mirror to remind you. • If you keep forgetting – try putting in the plug in the sink so you notice it filling up – that’ll prompt you to turn off the tap. Change how you wash your clothes • Only wash clothes that actually smell - for example, if you’ve only worn clothes once, you don’t need to wash them (obviously undies and socks don’t count) • Only run your washing machine when you have a full load. • Use the ‘sud-saver’ option on your machine when doing more than one load. • Use biodegradable eco-friendly detergent for improved greywater for your garden: 51
Both of these brands are stocked in Coles, Woolies and many Independent Grocers. Tier 2: Middle o’ the Road (Intermediate level) Cut your shower time by 5 minutes • So, if you were previously having a 15-minute shower, try for a 10-minute shower. • Tools to help with this: Buy a shower timer [You can get one here] or set the stopwatch on your phone for 10 minutes (or 5 mins if you think you can power through your shower like a crazy-fast shower pro!). If you have a garden only water it every few days and water the roots • It’s better to water less and soak the plants’ roots than to sprinkle water on the surface. • Watering the garden in the evening or early morning is much better for the plants as the water is less likely to evaporate in the heat of the sun and gets soaked up into the soil. If your toilet has a single flush mode (that is, you can’t do a half flush), install a ‘toilet dam’ • A toilet dam is just a plastic bottle filled with water and a few pebbles/stones, that you stick inside your toilet cistern. It displaces about 1 litre of water each time you flush, so you’re using a litre less of water each time you go to the loo. Pretty nifty! • Check out this video for a step by step guide (there are like, two steps), on how to add one of these to your toilet. Go to your local hardware store and buy a 3-star rated showerhead • It’s a one off action that’ll save you both water and money. The 3 star showerheads are commonly available in Canberra’s hardware stores or online, still have great water pressure, and usually cost about 52
$50-80. Compared to a regular showerhead, over the course of a year, you’ll end up saving about 1450 bathtubs’ worth of water per household. For a $50 shower head and a household with average daily 39 water consumption, this water saving more than offsets the cost of the showerhead after a year. With 40 a water-efficient showerhead, you’ll also get about a 50% reduction in the cost of gas used to heat the water. 41 • Here’s a map of hardware stores in Canberra that sell taps and showerheads, if you’re not sure which one is closest to you. Place a bucket in the shower to collect water for your garden • This is a great way to save while you wait for hot water to arrive. You can then use the water collected in the bucket for cleaning (e.g. use the water to wash ‘hand-wash only’ clothes), window washing or in the garden. • You can also place small buckets in the kitchen and bathroom sinks to collect water when you wash your hands, and then chuck this on the garden or use it to wash dishes. Plus - use any water you used to cook with on the garden, and any leftover water from bottles too. Tier 3: : Ain’t no mountain high enough (Challenge level) Install an underground dripper system in your garden with a timer to limit water use, and use thick mulch to stop evaporation A tap timer only costs about $15 and an above ground soaker hose, as a cheaper option than an underground dripper system, costs between $5-10. Buy flow restrictors for your taps • Flow control regulators and aerators on taps will cut water flow by up to 50%. This is great for your bathroom and kitchen sinks. • Flow restrictors and aerators cost about $15-20 each - you need to know the diameter of your tap to make sure you can buy one that fits your taps. You can buy them at hardware stores in Canberra or online. • See an example tap aerator here. • A map to these hardware stores is here. 53
Install rainwater tanks in your home • You could do a bulk-buy of water tanks for your group to capture rainwater. • Here’s one option where you can buy some online. Buy a 5-star rated front loader washing machine These use about two thirds less water than a traditional top loader. Understanding the labels “The WELS label, or Water Efficiency Labelling and Standards Scheme, allows you to compare the water efficiency of different products on the market. Keep an eye out for any water-reliant product. The more stars on the label the better!”. Smart Approved WaterMark is Australia’s outdoor water saving labelling program for stuff that helps to reduce water use at home. “Products and services with the Smart Approved WaterMark label have been assessed by an independent technical expert panel. So look out for the Smart Approved WaterMark label when you’re shopping to be sure that what you’re buying really will save you water.” 42 Reducing water pollution These actions don’t have an impact on your carbon emissions but they reduce water pollution in Canberra: 43 • Use a sink strainer in the kitchen. • Remove autumn leaves from your gutters and compost them (this eases up pollution flowing into our wetlands and lakes). • Chuck tissues and other rubbish in the bin, not the toilet. This way you don’t run the risk of clogging the pipes, and they don’t pollute the waterways. An easy way to start doing this is to put a small bin next to each toilet in the house. • wash your car over grass or at a facility which recycles the water In your group, have a brief chat about each action and then choose the ones you want to tackle and by when – write them down on the next page. 54
Step 3: Commit - Set up your action plan (20 mins) Add a couple of the actions that you each intend to carry out below. (Optional) Buddy (who will check up on you to Specific How you’ll do this Commitment / Pledge see whether you’ve made your behaviour (Include When and Where) desired change / or help you make the change Replace my bathroom By going to the Hardware Liam will go with Lily to the (Example) Lily will showerhead with store in Fyshwick and buying hardware store to replace one that has a 3-star a 3-star shower head next his shower head too efficiency rating Saturday morning Name will... Congratulations! You’ve just finished your fifth workshop! Go you! Before You Head Off • Decide as a group when you’ll meet up again (same time, same place? Or maybe another group member’s house?); • Agree to have a quick squiz at the transport chapter before you meet up; • Fish out your most recent petrol bills, or keep track of them between now and your next Transition Streets session, and bring them along to your next session. (And if you have time, estimate roughly how much you spend on travel each year (bus, fuel, maintenance, flights, etc.). • Carry out your action plans from this session! And keep working on your other actions from the Waste and Consumer Power, Energy, Food, and Water chapters. Only two more workshops to go! FINAL TIP Remember that the way we form habits has a lot to do with belief and our sense of self-efficacy – so if we think to ourselves ‘I can do this, and I will do it’ – we’re more likely to carry out our desired action. 39 Water Efficiency Labelling and Standards Scheme, plumbing products. 40 See more on ICON’s standard pricing per kL of water here. 41 WaterRating.gov.au, ‘Water Efficiency’. 42 ICON Water, ‘My Home’. 43 For more information on reducing water use in Canberra see the SEE-Change resource page: http://www.see-change. org.au/resources/water/ and for reducing water pollution see Access Canberra. 55
Legend Difficulty Easy Medium Hard Dwelling All household House only House with Apartment types (HHH) (H) garden only (A) (HG) Resident Renter (R) Home owner (HO) On campus or public (SH) Impact / / / / / 5 5 5 5 5 Cost Saving Free Low Medium High Repetition One-time Ongoing 56
6 TRANSPORT
Welcome to the Transport workshop! Today’s session is pretty straightforward because the connection between cars and planes and pollution is pretty intuitive. And luckily, there are a lot of easy actions you can adopt to reduce your emissions from your car travel and any flights you take, that are still very impactful. All up, this fifth session should take you a little less than an hour as a group – so make sure you have some snacks and some comfy seats at hand, and get going! But First! (5 minutes) Spend 5 minutes or less having a brief chat about how you’ve all managed with your actions from the Water session: • Have you carried out the actions you committed to? • What was hard? • What do you still want to get done (and what barriers do you need to remove to do it?) Transport — the facts (5 mins) The manufacturing and operation Petrol cars are the biggest Air travel produces slightly less of passenger cars uses large contributor to greenhouse gases greenhouse gases per person amounts of non-renewable across all forms of transport than cars, but planes burn a lot resources such as metals and in Australia. In Australia, from of fuel to cover huge distances. fossil fuels. 1955 to 2013, private passenger This generates massive amounts vehicle registration increased of greenhouse gases in a short from 1.4 million to 13 million. time. 40% of Canberrans travel less Canberra’s bus fleet has racks Light rail in the ACT will also be than 10km to work, a distance on the front of each bus to a huge bonus and will run on easily cycled. Canberra has allow cyclists to secure their 100% renewable energy. excellent infrastructure for bikes there and so people can cycling and Canberrans also easily split their trip between cycle more than residents in bussing and cycling for longer any other state or territory. distances. 58
The benefits of greening your day-to-day travel Walking, cycling, bussing and car-pooling more will: • Reduce fossil fuel usage: When using alternative transport such as buses, bikes or walking, very little greenhouse gases are produced. • Reduce air and water pollution: Cars produce exhaust fumes including nitrogen oxides, carbon monoxide, hydrocarbons and particulate matter. This is scientifically proven to be bad for people’s health and damages people’s quality of life. As Canberra’s population grows, so will its air pollution (imagine Canberra’s crisp mountain air gradually disappearing, and being more like a busy street in Melbourne or Sydney), unless people shift to alternative modes of transportation like electric vehicles, trains and bicycles. Water quality is also impacted by run off from roads coated with oil and plastic residue. • Save you money: The financial cost of owning a vehicle continues long after the initial purchase. To keep even a small car on the road can cost $150 per week once depreciation, fuel, insurance, registration, maintenance and parking costs are taken into account. Guess what’s cheaper? A bike. Or car hire from car sharing companies for those trips when you need a car. • Improve your health: Cycling increases cardiovascular health and reduces weight. Plus active travel is much better for your overall psychological health, by promoting better sleep and providing a greater sense of wellbeing. Step 1: Measuring your carbon miles (10 mins) Take a look at some of the ballpark carbon emission figures for different types of travel. If you take into account that by 2050, every person needs to be emitting a maximum of about 2 tonnes of carbon per year to stay under 2 degrees of global warming, it helps you realise how big a factor transport emissions can be for your carbon footprint • A short haul flight (e.g. Sydney to Melbourne) = ~0.5 tonnes • A medium haul flight (e.g. Melbourne to Brisbane) = ~1 tonne • A long haul international flight (about 10,000km travelled) = ~3.5 tonnes • A car driven regularly for a year = ~4 tonnes • Using only public transport (buses and trains = ~0.06 tonnes 45 • Cycling or walking everywhere = 0 tonnes Now, if you’ve brought your last couple of petrol bills along with you to the session, then have a very quick chat about how much you think you spend on petrol each month. If you would like to have your transport emission reductions measured, then take a photo of your latest petrol bill, or photos of your last couple of petrol bills now, with your smart phone, and send them to info@ theneighbourhoodeffect.com.au so we can benchmark your transport emissions. Be sure to send us copies of your petrol bills after you’ve completed some of the actions from this session, so we can calculate your emissions savings and send these back to you. See Privacy policy and Confidentiality of data here for more details on the data collection process, and how we ensure your information is kept private and secure. Don’t have a smartphone? Then you can fill out this form with details of how much you spent on petrol in the last couple of weeks. 59
Step 2: Measuring your carbon miles (15 mins) If we can all reduce our private car use, then we can save money and our communities, both local and global, will also benefit enormously. We will also be healthier if we walk or cycle instead. Fewer cars on the road means cleaner, less polluted air to breathe, leading to fewer respiratory diseases like asthma. Fewer cars also means more peace and quiet, fewer car parks and more green spaces, and a sense of space. Globally, reducing our CO2 emissions will leave many of our fellow humans in their homes, rather than displaced by rising sea levels. Each of the actions below can significantly reduce the cost of running your own car, as well as improve your local environment, while still getting you from A to B. Note that you may do some of these activities already – if so, go you! Behavioural Science Tip For repeat actions, you’re likely to forget or revert back to your old behaviour at some point – this is normal and to be expected – it’s part of being human! It happens for everyone, so there’s no reason to feel guilty, just pick up where you left off and try again. The more times you repeat a habit, the easier it becomes and the less you have to think about it. Once you’ve performed the action enough times, you’ll reach ‘automaticity’ – i.e. doing something so automatically you don’t even realise you’re doing it. Tier 1: Easy-peasy lemon squeezy (Beginner level) Do errands that require driving in one big go You can save fuel and time by doing several tasks on the one trip, plus, then your errands are out of the way in one afternoon. For a destination that’s 20 minutes or less to get to by walking (e.g. the local shops), walk instead of driving. This is a great way to improve your general health and well-being; walking is known to combat stress, depression and anxiety, and it improves your fitness. Turn down the air-con or heating in the car This will save you fuel and reduce your car’s emissions. To remove some of the need to heat or cool your car, in summer, park in the shade and lower windows to remove hot air. In winter, park in the sun to warm up your car. 60
Don’t put your pedal to the metal • When you drive smoothly and slowly, you eliminate most of the need for sharp acceleration and deceleration, which reduces the amount of fuel you use. • Remove any roof racks on your car when not in use. This reduces drag and minimises fuel usage. Get your car serviced regularly • Doing this and also driving smoothly and safely can save as much as 0.3 tonnes of carbon emissions a year (not to mention saving you money on petrol). 46 • Keeping tyres pumped up (this is easy to do if you get your car serviced at least once a year) also reduces your use of petrol. Tier 2: : Middle o’ The Road (Intermediate level) Buy an electric vehicle • If you need to buy a new car, buy an electric vehicle! • Check out the Green Vehicle Guide for info and advice on the best ones to buy that are in your price range. Or, buy a fuel-efficient car • If buying an electric car is too expensive The National Transport for you, you could instead buy a hybrid car, Commission found that if or a fuel-efficient petrol car. Australian consumers purchased the most fuel-efficient and low- emissions petrol vehicles, national • Check out the Green Vehicle Guide for info average CO2 emissions for new and advice on the best ones to buy that are cars would be cut in half. in your price range Cycle to work a couple of days a week • The night before you ride to work, lay out your cycling clothes before you go to bed and pack your work clothes into your bag. This makes it way easier for your befuddled early morning brain to choose the cycling option. 61
• The more you get into the habit of cycling, the easier it will be and the less resistance you’ll experience. The hardest part is starting. • And if you can’t ride a bike, learn by signing up for an adult beginner course with Pedal Power! If you haven’t cycled for a while and aren’t sure that you’re comfortable on the roads (although there are heaps of great bike paths in Canberra) you can also take a road-ready cycle class with Pedal Power to build your confidence and learn how to safely manage your cycling. Catch the bus to work a couple of days a week • Check out the routes that come past your house at the Action Bus website. • Transport Canberra also have a good trip planner for bus, cycling and active transport. • You can buy a MyWay card from your local corner store, post office or news agency. Check out the list of stores here. Alternatively, you can buy it online. Car-pool to work with co-workers or car pool for school drop-offs with other parents • Type up and print out a flyer to stick up in your office or school noticeboard about carpooling from your suburb - this’ll save you money and can be lots of fun (if you’re fond of your co-workers or fellow parents!) • If you’re interested in car-pooling on routes that you take regularly, you can register your ride on this webpage that facilitates car-pooling in Canberra. Tier 3: Ain’t no mountain high enough (Challenge level) Sell your car and buy an electric or standard bicycle • There’s strong evidence that owning an electric bike increases the amount that people cycle (well duh) and is better for your health. It’s also a helluva lot cheaper than owning a car and paying for its upkeep and registration. Plus, if you’re a busy person who’s always on the go, an e-bike is a perfect option - parking is way easier and you don’t have to get super sweaty when you ride because of that electric motor • Switched On Cycles sells mid-range electric bikes for the Canberra region, will let you do a 2-day trial run before you buy, and can also help you convert your existing bike into an electric one. • Pedal Power ACT also has some great info on e-bikes that you can check out here and the Electric Bike Centre also has a Beginner’s Guide to E-Bikes that you can download here • To help fill the occasional service gap in a car free life, consider using a car share service such as Popcar (https://popcar.com.au/) or Go Get (https://www.goget.com.au/) 62
Stop flying overseas, or, if you do, offset the full carbon cost of your flights • If you book your flights online, make sure you select the ‘offset my flights’ button. For a typical domestic flight this usually only costs you about $2 or $3. Qantas, Jetstar and Virgin Blue all have carbon offset add-ons you can pick when you fly. That said, this is super cheap for carbon offsetting - and it’s unclear what system these airlines are using to offset your flights. • If you want to go the whole shebang and be 100% sure that your flights are fully offset, then you can spend a bit more money on local carbon offsets through the government’s carbon farming initiative. This great site allows you to purchase offsets for your flights that meet both the Gold Standard and the Verified Carbon Standard for offsets. This means the carbon that is saved is permanent, and would not have been saved otherwise, but for the offset that you have purchased. • A typical long haul overseas flight will put you back by about $120, but for a short domestic flight, say from Sydney to Melbourne, you’re looking at $9 per flight. Think of it as a donation to the environment. For example, one of the projects supported by this scheme is protecting Tasmania’s old-growth native forests and providing an economic alternative to logging. Plus the offsets are all located in our region, so you’re also not shifting the burden of carbon emission reductions onto those developing countries with very low per capita emissions. Pretty cool right? Take a staycation, that is, holiday locally, instead of far away • Air travel is probably the one area where it’s really hard to make a dent in your emissions. We’re a long way off having commercially-available jet fuel, like biodiesel, that is less carbon-intensive. Plus, one flight a year can completely blow your carbon budget, which can be depressing and demotivating. Your best bet is to get into the habit of offsetting your flights (and building this into your travel budget), using services like the one linked above, and also to try to reduce your air travel wherever possible. • Australia is a massive and beautiful country with so much to discover. If you’re planning a vacation, why not look at options slightly closer to home? Here’s an article on the benefits of a staycation and another on domestic travel in Australia. In your group, have a brief chat about the action/s above that you’re each committing to over the next month, then write these down, in the table below, using language that firmly commits you to your desired change and states when and where you’ll carry out this action (studies show that this makes it more likely you’ll successfully carry out the action) 63
Step 3: Your green travel game plan (20 mins) (Optional) Buddy (who will check up on you to Specific How you’ll do this Commitment / Pledge see whether you’ve made your behaviour (Include When and Where) desired change / or help you make the change Jen will go with Lily to a I’ll get up at 7am like usual, bike shop on Saturday to Cycle to work on but I’ll skip reading the paper get her tires checked before (Example) Lily will Mon mornings that day so I have extra time the week starts; Jen will join to get to work her on the cycle back from work with her own bike. Name will... Before Your Next Session Finally, between now and the next session, remember to: • Confirm the date, time and location of your next (and possibly final!) meeting; • Work on your chosen transport actions and keep cracking away at your Waste and Consumer Power, Energy, Food, and Water actions; • Briefly read through the Wrapping Up session • Make a plan for how you’ll celebrate the end of the program and all you’ve achieved during the next and final session. Will you each bring something delicious to eat? Will you watch one of your favourite movies? Will you have a dinner party? Or a big street party? The world’s your oyster! Congratulations! That’s 6 sessions down, and only one to go! 44 National Cycling Participation Survey 2015. 45 Assuming that buses create about 0.069 kg of CO2 for every km travelled per passenger, diesel trains create about 0.06 and electric trains about 0.065, and assuming distance travelled for the year in total is 1000 km. 46 1 Million Women (2014), ‘How to save money on transport’: “…based on Australians cars on average being driven about 15,000km a year or 1250km a month, and conservatively assumes that drivers can achieve a 10% fuel efficiency improvement by driving steady, using quality fuels and caring for their vehicles. It uses the core carbon calculation that each 5km driven in a medium-sized vehicle creates 1kg of CO2 pollution.” 64
7 WRAPPING UP
Today’s session is on wrapping up and looking forward. It’s the final session! Since you’ve gotten this far, you deserve a huge congratulations. Good on you. We hope it’s been rewarding, and we’re very interested in your feedback on the program. Now that you’ve completed the past six parts of the Transition Streets program, this session is all about evaluating what worked, celebrating your achievements, and deciding as a group whether you’d like to continue meeting and working on this stuff together. But First! (5 minutes) Discuss how you have all got on with your actions from the Transport chapter. • What have you achieved? • What was hard? • What do you still want to get done? Activity 1: Looking back on what you’ve achieved (20 mins) Spend the next 10–20 minutes, take turns answering the following questions: 1 What do you feel you’ve achieved through this program that you’re most proud of? 2 What do you think were the factors that helped support your achievement? 3 What did you find most difficult? 4 What have you learned? 5 What are you hoping to do in the future? Activity 2: Final evaluation (20 mins) At the first session you calculated your ecological footprint, using SEE-Change’s online ecological footprint calculator. Now that you’ve run through all of the sessions in this workbook, this is the perfect time to complete the ecological footprint calculator again, to see for yourself what has changed. Take turns spending the next few minutes completing the online calculator here. Can you remember your results from when you first completed it? What’s changed? If you haven’t covered it in your discussion today already, briefly discuss what you think of the Transition Streets program. Then individually, take a few minutes to complete the Program Feedback Form here. It should only take 5 minutes. NOTE: By filling out the ecological footprint calculator at the start and end of the program, along with the program feedback form, you are giving The Neighbourhood Effect and SEE-Change invaluable information that we can use to improve the program for future Transition Streeters. Thank you! 66
Activity 3: Your next steps (20 mins) You have now joined over 550 households in the UK, 11 streets in Newcastle and many others who have all taken part in the Transition Streets program. (To see how many households in Canberra have now participated in Transition Streets - check out our tally here!). You might have already formed your own plans about the next steps for your group – for example, going again through the sessions and picking up some new actions, or starting to explore some of the challenge-level actions, including making modifications to your homes, shifting to a vegan or vegetarian diet, or replacing your white goods with more energy efficient appliances. Think about where you would like to go from here, either on your own or with some, or all, of your group. Different groups do different things next In your group: Do you want to keep meeting? If yes, will it be purely social or will you have an aim? What will it be? How often will you meet? Will you invite others? Is there a local issue you would like to work together on: bus routes, cycle routes, rubbish, green spaces, bulk buys of LED lights? In your community: What does your street or community need to make it more sustainable? Are there community buildings that you think could have community-funded solar panels on their roofs? Does this group have a role in that? Where will you start? As an individual: Are there actions you still need to complete? Ones you never started? Topics you didn’t think you had enough time to explore? Things you want to learn more about? What are your next steps, and how will you make sure you do them? If you decide to continue (and we sincerely hope you do) then it’s probably helpful for you to: 1 Agree on the purpose of the group moving forward. 2 Agree how often you’ll meet. If could also be useful to plan perhaps another couple of sessions and decide the topics you want to cover in advance, then have another evaluation, rather than agreeing on an indefinite program. Other options and ongoing support You may also wish to get more involved in other community activities that are focused on reducing our energy dependence and building more resilient communities. Here are some options inspired by what others have done: • Have a street party or social occasion: www.thebiglunch.com • Start some shared veggie gardening or sharing produce. Incredible Edible have some great resources on how to do this. • Sign up for some fantastic sustainable skills-building workshops with the Canberra Environment Centre. • Try a Playing Out day in your street, so children can play outside in safety. • The local Canberra branch of the Alternative Technology Association have some great events about home improvements you can make to reduce your energy dependence on fossil fuels. Check out their events list here. 67
• If you’re interested in renovating your home or are planning on building a new house in Canberra, then Light House Architecture and Science provide a fantastic service to help you construct aesthetically beautiful, highly energy efficient homes. • If you would like ongoing support, please visit the SEE-Change website which has a range of information about local events and projects that you might want to get involved in: www.see-change.org.au. A sustainable behaviour mobile app for Canberra The Neighbourhood Effect is also building a mobile application in Canberra, to take the Transition Streets approach and make it more interactive and fun for Canberrans to use. If you’re not already a member of The Neighbourhood Effect and are interested in using the app, you can join up here. The Transition Streets global network Transition Streets Canberra is also part of a network of Transition initiatives that are happening in over a thousand highly diverse communities across the world — from towns in Australia to neighbourhoods in Portugal, from cities in Brazil to rural communities in Slovenia. The Transition Network has a range of resources that can help you start on different projects at: www.transitionnetwork.org. These communities have started projects in the areas of food, transport, energy, education, housing, waste, arts, and so on, as small-scale local responses to global challenges of climate change, economic hardship and shrinking supplies of cheap energy. Together, these small-scale responses make up something much bigger, and help show the way forward for governments, business and the rest of us. It’s the opposite of sitting in our armchairs complaining about what’s wrong, and instead, it’s about getting up and doing something constructive about it alongside our neighbours. Helping others to participate You can read media article about the Transition Streets in Canberra and read other participants stories here: www.see-change.org.au/transition-streets-canberra/ Share your story Would you like to write a ‘success story’ about your group? Would you be willing to supply us with a quote about your experiences of doing the project, so that we can tell other people about how it has been for you? We can put these on the website and use them to help inform others about the benefits of Transition Streets. If you would like to share your ‘success story’ please email: [email protected]. Become a Transition Streets mentor Would you like to become a Transition Streets mentor? Now you know what it’s all about, you could help another group to get started and to get the most from the program. This is a great way you can give back to your local community. Please contact us to find out more: [email protected] And now... take the time to celebrate your achievements so far with your group! Well done! Pat yourselves on the back – you’ve just completed the Transition Streets Program! Thanks for your participation – we hope you’ve enjoyed it! 68
Acknowledgements Transition Streets grew out of the Transition Streets program based in Totnes, Devon, England. We acknowledge and thank them for their manual, which inspired the development of this workbook. We also thank the team at Transition Newcastle (NSW) who developed a workbook and program for Newcastle and the Transition Streets National working group (NSW and Victoria) for their work in developing the national workbook and program (based on the Newcastle workbook) for use throughout Australia. We would also like to thank the Canberra Team who contributed to the creation of the original Canberra Workbook and many of whom provided vital feedback on this version: Cindy Steensby, Claire Havens, Daniel Ong, Ian Swain, Jennifer Tonna, Jodie Pipkorn, Karen Jesson, Kaveri Chakrabarty, Lee Wallace, Leigh Duxson, Lish Fejer, Luke McClean, Maureen Regan, Patrick Finneran, Peter Nguyen, and Su Wild-River. We would also like to acknowledge the ongoing support of Communities at Work While Lily Dempster from The Neighbourhood Effect rewrote this workbook with significant and indispensable input from SEE-Change Project Officer, Jennifer Tonna and advice from SEE-Change Executive Officer, Liam Lilly, we would like to thank Professors Bob Slonim and Ellen Garbarino from the University of Sydney, who provided invaluable feedback on the new Transition Streets Canberra program and the behavioural science strategies that underpin it. The ACT Government made this workbook a reality by awarding SEE-Change a 2014-15 Community Support and Infrastructure Grant and a 2016-17 Multicultural Participation Grant. We would also like to thank and acknowledge ActewAGL, as they have generously partnered with us to share consenting participants electricity and gas data to enable an evaluation of the program and to help us track energy-related emission reductions for Transition Streeters. We would like to thank the University of Canberra students Julia Vinh, Ben Goodwin, Andrew Duff and Alexander Gladwish who designed the online Ecological Footprint calculator. Lastly we would like to thank Guy Dempster for his immaculate graphic design of the workbook, which he completed under tight deadlines and at a considerably reduced rate, in support of this program and its goals of strengthening ecological sustainability and community in Canberra. 69
Legend Difficulty Easy Medium Hard Dwelling All household House only House with Apartment types (HHH) (H) garden only (A) (HG) Resident Renter (R) Home owner (HO) On campus or public (SH) Impact / / / / / 5 5 5 5 5 Cost Saving Free Low Medium High Repetition One-time Ongoing 70
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