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AWARDS Environment and Sustainability Award for Innovation

Innovation Award for Regional Environment and Sustainability

Who can apply
Representatives from all types of organisations active in regional development across Australia, including councils, shires, rural and regional organisations, NGO’s and government agencies that aim to better serve their communities.

Presentation
The Award Presentation Ceremony will be at the Australian Regional Development Conference Dinner on October 15th at the Commercial Club Albury.

Important Dates
Nominations open: Thursday 29th August 2013
Nominations close: Tuesday 15th July 2014
Award Submission
Click here to submit a nomination, entries can only be accepted via the website.

 Environment and Sustainability Award for Innovation

The online entry:
• requires you to provide a brief overall description of your project
• has a 300-word limit to each criterion
• requires all selection criteria to be addressed as appropriate to the project; if a criterion is not relevant to the project state ‘not applicable’.
Note: applications and attachments will be printed in black and white only

Selection criteria

Entries for the awards should address the following selection criteria:
Innovation and/or best practice
How does your project demonstrate innovation and/or best practice in the way your organisation does business or delivers services to your community?
Process and planning
How did you determine what changes were required to improve your business practices and/or better meet your community’s needs (for example, consultation processes, needs analysis, etcetera)?Benefits
• What are the benefits of the project? Who benefits and how?
Innovation
• How does your project demonstrate innovation or deliver to community in terms of economic and social outcomes?
Community needs
How are community needs met by this project

The judging process
Innovation Award category will be judged by the Advisory Committee with judging based on the submitted entry form (entrants do not present). Judging will be based on the material provided by you, within the online entry form.
ARDC awards logo
More information
 If you require more information about the Awards submission process and sponsorship please contact the Secretariat.

Ph: (61 7) 5502 2068 Fax (61 7) 5527 3298
Email:[email protected]

Fat of the land: how urban design can help curb obesity

By Billie Giles-Corti, University of Melbourne and Carolyn Whitzman, University of Melbourne

OBESE NATION: It’s time to admit it – Australia is becoming an obese nation. This series looks at how this has happened and more importantly, what we can do to stop the obesity epidemic.

Here Billie Giles-Corti and Carolyn Whitzman discuss ways to change our obesogenic environment through urban design while Jo Salmon looks at the role physical activity and exercise play in healthy lifestyles.

Compared with our grandparents, feeding, clothing, and entertaining ourselves has never been easier: a one-stop weekly shopping centre trip in a car, facilitated by convenient parking and light-weight maneuverable shopping trolleys that allow us to whiz around the supermarket with ease.

In fact, these days people don’t even need to leave home to do their food shopping, order takeaway food, bank or pay bills, shop for clothing or household goods, “visit” with their friends, read the newspaper or amuse themselves. Using the internet or telephone, activities that used to involve some level of activity or a short walk, can be done with “anywhere, anytime” convenience.

The internet and telephone have made life easy but it’s not all good news.
teoruiz/Flickr

If we couple this lifestyle of convenience with a media environment that advertises and provides an attractive array of easily-accessed, low-cost and tasty, high-fat, high-sugar foods – it’s not surprising that obesity is such a huge problem.

Australia is one of the global leaders in the obesity epidemic, with two-thirds of Australian adults and a quarter of Australian children, overweight or obese. Alarm bells are ringing in health circles about the impact this will have on all the major preventable diseases: type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease and cancer. These diseases will get worse unless we can help people maintain a consistent belt size throughout their life.

Poor diet, lack of physical activity and other sedentary behaviours are the main culprits in the obesity epidemic. People choose how active they are and what they eat. But their local environments – their neighbourhood, local parks and streets, as well as their homes, workplaces and schools – provide opportunities and barriers that affect those choices.

There’s widespread agreement that we’ve created obesogenic environments that encourage both inactivity and overeating. So what can be done about it?

People are more likely to walk and cycle if they live in safe, compact, pedestrian-friendly neighbourhoods.
Marionzetta/Flickr

For a start, we could improve neighbourhood design to get people out of their cars and onto the streets. People are more likely to walk and cycle if they live in safe, compact, pedestrian-friendly neighbourhoods characterised by connected street networks, access to nearby destinations such as shops and parks, mixed uses of building such as housing above shops, and high population density.

People living in the suburban sprawl walk less, drive more, and spend more time in sedentary pursuits, such as watching television or cruising on the internet, than those living in compact, pedestrian-friendly neighbourhoods. We need to plan services in new communities so that schools, shops, public transport, and parks arrive at the same time as housing – so that residents can develop good walking, cycling and public transport habits from the outset.

At the same time, we need to share the resources available in established suburbs closer to the city where there’s already good access to parks, jobs, and public transport. This means increasing the number of people who live in inner-city suburbs and giving more people access to existing shops and services.

We also need to think about quality and access to open space: parks, ovals, play grounds, and school grounds. The way open space is designed gives people cues about how it is to be used – is this open space simply for vandals and hoons, or does it say to local residents (regardless of age), “this space is open for active business, come and join in”?

The way open space is designed gives people cues about how it is to be used.
Grant MacDonald

Similarly, we need to make the most of what’s called “blue space” – waterways, such as creeks, lakes, rivers and beach fronts. We know that in wealthy areas, blue spaces are opened up and invite the public to be active with walking and cycling paths, but is this true in lower-income areas?

There’s growing evidence that people who drive long distances to work are more likely to gain weight. Reducing commute times would not only be good for the environment, it would also be good for our waistlines – particularly if it involved walking or cycling to rapid public transport. This requires the right types of jobs to be available locally – what type of local business activation models could assist?

We need to give people choices so that healthy options are easy to pick – in neighbourhoods, schools and workplaces. Policies ensuring there’s plenty of fruit, water, and healthy take-away food – not just high-fat, high-salt, high-sugar alternatives – give people the opportunity to make healthier choices.

Providing access to community garden spaces encourages children and adults to develop a love of fresh food has the potential to have a positive impact on our waistlines too.

Community gardens encourage people to develop a love of fresh food.
RDPixelShop/Flickr

And we need to think carefully, as a community, about how happy we are about the way unhealthy food is marketed and actively promoted so readily to children and young people. This normalises unhealthy food choices. We may need restrictions on the marketing of fast food to children in the mass media, at school and at sporting events.

These are choices to be made not only by individuals and families, but also by society. Planning and policy interventions are crucial to correct a serious market failure that is promoting unhealthy lifestyles, at the expense of the health and well-being of the nation and the future life expectancy of our children.

We have choices to make as a society. We know what we prefer – how about you?

The ConversationBillie Giles-Corti receives funding from the NHMRC and Australian Urban Infrastructure Network. Professor Giles-Corti is a Fellow of the Public Health Association of Australia.

Carolyn Whitzman receives funding from Australian Urban Infrastructure Network and is a member of the Planning Institute of Australia.

This article was originally published on The Conversation.
Read the original article.

Healthy Cities

The Association for Sustainability in Business is hosting the 7th Annual Making Cities Healthy Conference. To find out more about our professional development events please visit our website www.sustainability.asn.au and membership is free to join. Click here to join

Carbon Farming and Trading

The Association for Sustainability in Business will be hosting a webinar on the 31st July 2014 on Carbon Farming and Trading

How do you find the time to become well informed about ‘carbon farming’ and the ‘Carbon Farming Initiative’, so you can make decisions around engaging? Learn how to navigate the new ‘Direct Action’ Policy.

When: Thursday 31st July 2014
1.00 pm to 1.45 pm
45 minutes, 30 minutes presentation
15 minutes Q&A

There are no fees or charges to attend

Limited to 50 participants

Register by clicking on this link  register webinar larger

 

Can’t make it to the webinar, you can access a recording of the webinar in the member section of the Association for Sustainability in Business website. Apply now to join the Association click on the membership application link to apply online.

About your presenter 

louisa kielyMs Louisa Kiely, Carbon Farmers of Australia

Carbon Farmers of Australia has been helping farmers and others gain access to carbon markets since 2006, and are now expanding to cover industrial and commercial operations as we move forward with pioneering the burgeoning Australian carbon trade industry

Louisa obtained her Bachelor of Agricultural Economics from the University of New England. She worked in the market research industry as a field supervisor while bringing up her 3 children. In 1991- 2003  Michael and Louisa established and grew a city based  Marketing agency from zero to 55 employees.  In this business, she was  Director and  General Manager of Boomerang! Integrated Marketing & Advertising.

Intent on following her first choice of career, she studied for the Advance Diploma of Farm Management at Sydney University (Orange), trained in Holistic Management, and since 1998 she has been a woolgrower in the Wellington NSW district.

She was selected by the Central Western Catchment Management Authority as one of 10 highly innovative landholders in the Catchment, to be trained in farm planning and soil restoration. Through this training she and husband Michael became convinced that soil carbon could solve many agricultural, environmental, and climate change problems.

She co-founded the Carbon Coalition Against Global Warming in February 2006 to lobby for the right of Australian landholders to trade on the emissions offset market the credits they can earn by sequestering carbon in their soils. They have since travelled throughout Australia and the United States meeting scientists and farmers and spreading the word about “Carbon Farming”.

Seeking to build bridges with the scientific community, she organised two Soil C Summits between Scientists and Farmers, in Dubbo  and Orange  NSW.  She organised and ran the world’s first Carbon Farming Expo & Conference in Mudgee in November 2007 and the second and third  in Orange in 2008, 2009 with delegates from every State in Australia and NZ. 2011 marks the 5th annual Carbon farming conference and Expo, which is now incorporated into Carbon Farming Week, and includes the Festival of Fertiliser Day.

In 2008 she was invited to be a delegate at a Climate Change and Conservation Farming Conference in LaFayette, Indiana, organised by the UN Food & Agriculture Organisation. She was also a delegate at the National Carbon Offset Coalition Conference in Boezman, Montana. She is co-founder of Carbon Farmers of Australia – a not-for –profit trading arm of the Carbon Coalition. It has developed a trading model for soil carbon which gives farmers access to markets before the formal Emissions Trading Scheme begins. It has also published the world’s first Carbon Farming Handbook.

She has developed the “CarbonCredited™” brand for wool and is currently recruiting woolgrowers into this emissions reduction program. Louisa has been recognized for her work by being chosen as runner up in the 2008 NSW Rural Woman of the Year. She has also been appointed to the Regional Development Australia Committee – Orana Region.   This intergovernmental committee has been set up to ensure the future strength and development in Rural and Regional Australia. In 2011, she has established the Carbon Farming and Trading Association, in order to be able to represent farmers in the new carbon trading environments.

As  director of Carbon farmers of Australia, she is part of a consortium of 3 companies which are developing methodologies to submit to the Carbon farming Initiative process. Carbon farmers of Australia also offers farm ready training in Carbon Farming and Trading.

Australian Regional Development Conference

You can also meet Louisa in person at the Australian Regional Development Conference where she will be presenting a paper on Carbon Farming. To see the complete conference program please visit the website www.regionaldevelopment.org.au

Meet the Association for Sustainability in Business committee

The Association for Sustainability in Business provides a platform for industry and academic leaders to share sustainability knowledge, the Association is committed to supporting the sustainable business practices of their members. The Association is creating a community for industry to work together on challenging sustainability issues.

Our membership is drawn from a wide discipline of sustainability managers, planning and design professionals, infrastructure, natural resources, transport, mining, government, academics, environmental management, town planning, chemistry, engineering, developers, owners and operators of private and public infrastructure of a built and natural form.

The Association is creating a community for industry to work together on challenging sustainability issues. To help us we have established an advisory committee for input to ideas on Sustainability issues, professional development topics and what members might want to hear about:

The Association’s Advisory Committee includes:

  • Kerryn Wilmot, Architect, Research Principal, Institute for Sustainable Futures, University of Technology Sydney
  • Paula Drayton, Director of Resource Advisory
  • Jim McDonald, Statutory Independent Expert Scientific Committee for Coal Seam Gas and Large Scale Coal Mining
  • Tania Crosbie, Marketing, Communications and Training specialist and Co-owner of Sustainability at Work
  • Cr Chris Thompson, Deputy Mayor and Division 4 Councillor of Sunshine Coast

Paula Drayton

Paula-DraytonPaula is the Director of Resource Advisory, a boutique communications and advisory firm created to enhance environmental, social and commercial outcomes for organisations, particularly those with sustainability challenges.

She is also the founder of Sustainability Coach, a business that incorporates coaching and team facilitation techniques to achieve sustainability outcomes. Paula has worked with some of Australia’s leading organisations and small to medium size enterprises. She manages a team of consultants that work along the East Coast of Australia, primarily Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne.

Prior to commencing her own businesses, Paula held senior management positions within the waste management industry, specialising in marketing, communications and sustainability education. She worked as the National Marketing Manager for Cleanaway, a Brambles company, and developed Cleanaway’s first National Education Program. Prior to her time in the waste management industry, Paula worked for professional services firms Ernst & Young and Andersen as a Manager within the Corporate Finance division.

Paula is involved in a range of community and environmental initiatives, and has been working with organisations in the sustainability domain since 2003. In 2010, Paula transitioned to Queensland, where she focuses on integrating her skills in coaching, mentoring, capacity building and communications into the Resource Advisory service and Sustainability Coach suite. Paula is accredited in a range of communications domains, including Crucial Conversations. She is a trained Passion Coach, Certified Master Coach and holds a BA Tourism Management and Master of Education in Adult Education from UTS in Sydney.

Kerryn Wilmot

Kerryn Wilmot co-leads the Cities and Buildings research area at the Institute for Sustainable Futures at UTS and supports the coordinator of the Sustainable Digital Cities Network in investigating the impact of new ways of working on the urban environment.  Kerryn is a highly experienced architect specialising in sustainability.  She has a practical understanding of construction processes and running multi-disciplinary teams from working extensively on the delivery of complex design projects in a 30-year career as a consultant architect.

Recent projects at ISF span analysis of demand for smart work centres, household engagement for smart energy meters, and market research into reduction of waste from commercial tenancy fitouts. Formerly an Associate at Spowers Architects, Kerryn was the project leader for the industry-leading 60L Green Building in Carlton, Victoria that won a Banksia Award and influenced today’s commercial buildings and sustainable development tools. The project included first principles research of materials’ impacts, in a process that eventually lead to the formation of Ecospecifier.  At Spowers and later at Williams Boag Architects, Kerryn specialised in sustainable development and advised on enhancing project sustainability.  She contributed industry knowledge to the Williams Boag Research software tool that quickly assesses the financial feasibility of a sustainable development project at its inception, developed under an ARC Linkage grant.  Kerryn lead 2 design projects in China with energy efficiency and sustainability agendas and earlier during a period of self-employment pursued development options there.  She was the Accredited Green Star Professional for a 5-star Green Star rated new senior school campus in ACT.

Kerryn has also been a guest lecturer at several universities and tutored in Sustainable Buildings and Environmental Building Services for the University of Melbourne.
Prior to joining ISF, in her spare time Kerryn was an active member of the Public Transport Users Association, lobbying for improved public transport in Victoria, in recognition of the need to for good sustainable transport options for liveable urban environments. She represented PTUA on the Metropolitan Transport Forum and on the Minister for Transport’s Station Users Panel.

Kerryn’s role at ISF is to contribute to the development of the Cities and Buildings research area.  Combining a practical background with current applied research work, she has an understanding of the complexities of providing infrastructure, and the impact of development and infrastructure on the amenity and functionality of the urban environment.

Jim McDonald

mcdonaldJim has an extensive depth and breadth of experience in all aspects of Integrated Catchment Management gained over the past twenty years. Agricultural production, surface and groundwater sharing; national R&D programs for dryland salinity and eutrophication; land and water integration planning, monitoring and evaluation programs; floodplain management; environmental risk assessment; re-allocation and adjustment programs; was an irrigator; and is a dryland farmer. In August 2001, Jim’s family farming business was amongst the first in the world to be certified under the AS/NZS ISO 14001:1996 Environmental Management Systems.

From 2003 to 2011 Jim Chaired the Namoi Catchment Management Authority, recognised as one of the foremost NSW and national regional NRM organisations. During this time the NCMA; embraced resilience thinking in their revised Catchment Action Plan (resilience is a dynamic property of any system, catchments being complex self-organising systems); became one of nine national regions developing a set of regional environmental accounts (conceptually imitating the use of the national economic accounts by enabling people to properly understand the condition, and direction of changes to their environmental and productive assets); and commenced developing a framework for a cumulative risk assessment of the emerging coal and coal seam gas extractive industries within the Namoi (assessing the resilience of nine key environmental assets).

In December 2012 Jim was appointed to the Statutory Independent Expert Scientific Committee for Coal Seam Gas and Large Scale Coal Mining established by the Australian Government under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (Cth). The Committee provides: Independent, expert scientific advice on coal seam gas and large coal mining proposals as requested by federal and state government regulators on the impact that coal seam gas and large coal mining development may have on Australia’s water resources; advice on a suite of research priorities; advice on the scope and method for Bioregional Assessments to be undertaken in areas where coal seam gas and/or large coal mining developments are underway or planned. Bioregional assessments are a scientific analysis of the ecology, hydrology and geology of an area and their purpose is to assess the potential risks to water resources as a result of intended developments.

Jim recently completed a Graduate Certificate in Environmental Science (2013) at the University of New England and is currently enrolled in the Graduate Certificate for the Management and Planning of Natural Hazards at the same University.

Tania Crosbie

taniacrosbyTania Crosbie is a marketing, communications and training specialist and co-owner of Sustainability at Work. In her 20 plus years’ experience Tania has held many senior management positions and delivered high-profile national campaigns. The breadth of industries range from banking and finance; recruitment; hospitality; education; not-for-profit and the arts across private, public and the not-for-profit sectors. She has also held a number of Board community and business board positions over the years including the Canberra Business Council, Australian Tourism Awards, 9th Australian Masters Games and the Red Shield Appeal.

Tania is an industry expert on green skills, sustainable workplaces, behaviour change, engagement and marketing. She has been part of industry task forces and forums providing research information, advice and guidance, addresses many conferences and is a former Senior Lecturer in Marketing at the University of Canberra.

Together the Directors have co-authored three pieces of research including “Sustainability in the Workplace – attitudes and behaviours towards sustainability in the workplace and home” released in 2011 and 2012 and “The Australian Sustainability Manager- the role, the challenges and the Future” released in 2012.

Cr Chris Thompson

Chris-ThompsonCr Chris Thompson is the Deputy Mayor and Division 4 Councillor of Sunshine Coast Council. Chris is responsible for Council’s Finance, Business Units, Water & Corporate Governance portfolios, and is also on Council’s Audit Committee.

Chris has a obtained his Master of Business Administration (MBA) from the University of Queensland, a Bachelor of Business and Information Systems, and is also a graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.

 

 

To find out more about the Association for Sustainability in Business please visit our new website www.sustainability.asn.au

7th Making Cities Liveable Conference Kingscliff

Healthy – Sustainable – Resilient – Cities

The 7th Making Cities Liveable Conference will examine the challenges, opportunities, trends and issues currently facing sector professionals. Delegates and presenters will examine how to plan for Healthy Cities, Sustainable Cities and Resilient Cities.

Join us at Mantra on Salt Beach, Kingscliff on the NSW and QLD border on the 10th – 11th July 2014.  Pre-conference workshops and study tours will held on Wednesday the 9th July.

The conference will be a platform for government, academic  and private sector practitioners.  It will consider the “liveability” of our cities and towns in the future and the changes required to public policy to build the communities of tomorrow.

Presentations will facilitate discussion on the challenges and opportunities facing Australia.  How will these suggested outcomes affect the way we live and work?

In 2013 the Sustainable Transformation Conference joined the Making Cities Liveable Conference. This year we are delighted to continue this era of collaboration, information sharing and professional networking, with National, State and Regional delegates.

The conference program will include an extensive range of topics with Keynotes, Concurrent Sessions, Case Studies, Workshops and Posters.

Topics will include:

  • Planning liveable cities and vibrant communities
  • Managing population growth and an ageing population
  • Transport and logistics: public transport – road systems – cycling – walking
  • Resilient cities: future proofing our cities
  • Legislation and policies: what changes can we expect
  • Health promoting cities: ageing – children – safety – mental health
  • Sustainable cities: economic growth – policy to program
  • Impact of new technology: how will it continue to drive change
  • Regional and rural towns: the interconnectivity between city and the bush
  • Future of work: dispersing jobs and the urban impacts
  • Food security – recycling – waste management
  • Managing natural resources  and renewable energy
  • Climate change: responses and outcomes

To find out more about the 7th Making Cities Liveable Conference  please visit the conference website

Kingscliff – Conference Destination

The Conference will be held at Mantra on Salt Beach, Kingscliff .

Found on the New Tweed Coast, just north of Byron Bay and 15 minutes south of the Gold Coast,  Kingscliff is fast becoming a must see destination for Queenslanders and Australians alike.

Kingscliff draws thousands of visitors every year because of its relaxed holiday lifestyle and abundance of leisure activities available. The pristine and uncrowded two kilometre beach stretching from Cabarita to Fingal provides an adventure playground with surfing, swimming, rock fishing or even diving at Fido’s Reef or Cook. For those seeking an adrenalin charged adventure can try their hand at water sports on the nearby Tweed River or perhaps a relaxing fishing river cruise.

The main strip of Kingscliff, Main Parade is lined with trendy outdoor cafes sure to please all food lovers with each offering delicious cuisine and some of the best seafood in the region.

Also close by is Mount Warning providing both volcanic soils, cultivating delicious tropical fruits in the region as well as an adventure fuelled activity with walking tracks from the base to the summit, providing spectacular views of Northern New South Wales.