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Change Agent Meet Lena Lena Taylor Taylor:JCU’s JCU’sSustainability SustainabilityProject ProjectOfficer Officer Meet Issue 6 October - December 2012 100% recycled paper
Editorial The conference included the Australasian Green Gown Awards where JCU took out the coveted Carbon Reduction Award for our “Integrated Approach to Energy Management” on the Townsville Campus.
Letter from the Editor
Issue 6 October - December 2012 Editor: Adam Connell Sub Editor: Suzy Keys
Contents 3.
What’s happening?
4.
Change Agent: Sustainability Project Officer for JCU by Adam Connell and Lena Taylor
6.
JCU Permaculture Society by Leon Van Wyk
7.
Green Gown Awards by Adam Connell
8.
Environmental Volunteering in the Dry Tropics by Laura Dunstan
9.
JCU Community Tree Planting Day by Adam Connell.
10. Master Class with Prof. Clive Hamilton by Lena Taylor
Welcome to the sixth edition of TropEco News and thank you to everyone who has read and given feedback on our past editions. We want to make this a publication for the people of JCU and your comments on how we can do this are very welcome. We’ve seen some great things happening at JCU in the past few months including the appointment of the new Sustainability Project Officer, Lena Taylor, at our Cairns Campus, a visit and public lecture by Professor Clive Hamilton, the establishment of the JCU Permaculture Society in Cairns and the JCU Community Tree Planting Day on the Townsville Campus. More on these can be found in this edition. I’ve just returned from the Australasian Campuses Toward Sustainability (ACTS) conference in Brisbane, which hosted a wealth of exciting local and international speakers discussing how we can become more sustainable Universities and what is being done now in institutions around Australasia.
Contribute to TropEco News If you have a sustainability related story or event you want to talk about, please send it to tropeco@jcu.edu.au with any relevant pictures and we may put it up on the TropEco Facebook page or publish it in TropEco News.
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TropEco News is published on 100% recycled paper and is also available online. Limited copies are printed to minimise resource consumption. Cover Photo: JCU Sustainability Project Officer, Lena Taylor Photo: Suzy Keys 2 TropEco, James Cook University, Tropical Queensland, Australia
The highlight of the conference was a visit to UQ to see their 1.2MW solar array on the St Lucia Campus and the Griffith University Eco Centre. Both are great examples of how campuses can move toward more sustainable operations whilst integrating teaching, learning and research as well as the wider community. I’m looking forward to seeing solar panels covering the roofs of JCU’s buildings, as we are in a prime location to utilise the power of the sun and JCU has the potential to be a world leader in this area. I hope you enjoy this edition of TropEco News and wish you all a safe and happy Christmas and New Year and look forward to working with you all again in 2013.
Adam Connell Manager, Environment Division of Finance and Resource Planning, James Cook University, Angus Smith Dr, Douglas, Qld 4811 P: +61 7 4781 5060 Mobile: 0459 097 253 E:adam.connell@jcu.edu.au
What’s Happening?
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Change Agent Sustainability Project Officer for JCU Lena Taylor is JCU’s new Sustainability Project Officer and Chang Change Agent. She will be working with the Sustainability Advisory Committee and Sustainability Action Group to develop Advis implement a strategic approach to sustainability at JCU. and im A change agent is visionary, passionate, inspiring, self motivated and good with people. Lena has all these attributes. Adam Connell asked her about her past experience and future plans for JCU. AC: When did you first start working in sustainability? And what led you to this role with JCU? My career in sustainability started, rather unglamorously, in door-to-door sales. It was the year 2000; I was 18, and four nights a week I walked around the backstreets of Brisbane selling memberships for the Wilderness Society. The product: reduced guilt and a feeling of agency in the face of species extinction, habitat loss and the like. I ended up managing the program and, I think, it was during this time that all my earlier thoughts around conservation found a place to grow. From here, I moved onto different roles in the NGO sector, including the Cairns and Far North Environment Centre, and the Australian and New Zealand Solar Energy Society. In 2003, inspired by the work of the environment movement, and drawn to policy analysis, I decided to go to University. So, full of enthusiasm I enrolled in a Bachelor of Environmental Management and Policy at Griffith University. It was here, as I became increasingly aware of the complexity of the task at hand that my worldview started to clarify. I graduated in 2006, and then spent five years working in policy for the State Government (as both a Team
Leader and Principal Policy Officer). In these roles, I worked on waste and resource efficiency policy, where we comprehensively revised the State waste management framework, and Indigenous natural resource management in Cape York and the Gulf. Convinced universities play an important role in sustainability, I also kept up a relationship with Griffith University by tutoring, and giving an annual guest lecture to sustainability students on environmental social theory and policy. The longer I worked for the State, and followed international environmental debates, the more I agreed with those who argued thinking about sustainability needed to expand. 1For any genuine turn towards sustainability we needed to think about the problem differently – and have the courage to go against the status quo. This was, arguably, the traditional role of the greens, and indeed many social movements. Yet I began to feel thinking was stuck. As sustainability professionals we were increasingly – as Australian Clive Hamilton argues – preoccupied with ‘wiping away the blemishes on the prevailing system, rather than challenging it.’ 2 This seemed to apply to many social movements, government and business.
So, with these thoughts bouncing around my head, I went part-time at work, and enrolled in an honours year at Griffith – the perfect way to have a good think about something. I explored these issues in a thesis on the anti-nuclear movement, and graduated with a first class Honours, for which I was awarded the University Medal. Not too long after this I left the State government, looking for a different kind of role, and was lucky to be offered this position at JCU! AC: What do you hope to achieve at JCU? My position at JCU has been established to facilitate the preparation, implementation and review of a JCU Sustainability Plan and reporting framework. I will also be the secretariat to the SAC and SAG, and responsible for coordinating a number of sustainability events –including an annual symposium. In doing this, I hope to build on the work being done by TropEco and others, and contribute to JCU becoming a leader in sustainability. I am working closely with Dr Colin Macgregor, coordinator of the new Bachelor of Sustainability degree program. I believe the higher education sector plays an important role in promoting sustainability, with the impacts going well beyond the university itself. Cont’d page 5
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Over ten years ago, Cortese3 argued: ‘If we are to achieve a sustainable future, institutions of higher education must provide the awareness, knowledge, skills, and values that equip individuals to pursue life goals in a manner that enhances and sustains human and non-human well-being.’ This is as relevant today as it was then. This is the first reason why universities are very well placed to be leaders in sustainability. If dealing with sustainability problems requires a rethink of many of our current systems and values, then universities clearly play a major role. The second reason is the large amount of knowledge and experience members of universities have in sustainability and social change, combined with the freedom they have to apply this knowledge to social comment and experimentation4. With leading researchers, programs like TropEco, and a new degree, JCU is certainly not a beginner when it comes to sustainability. But we still have a way to go. In developing a Sustainability Plan we hope to articulate how the many activities happening at JCU fit together, and identify any gaps where we could target new activities. This process will be guided by the four C’s of university sustainability: culture, campus, community, and curriculum. This will be an engaging and challenging role. Becoming a sustainability leader will require participation from students, faculty and staff. AC: And finally, what are some of the things that inspire you in the sustainability field? LT: Right now, I am reading about the historical role the arts and literature have had in social change, (the Dark Mountain project has been interesting in this respect) , and that’s something I would like to explore further one day.
Anyone who would like to learn more about what we hope to achieve, or get involved in any activities, please contact Lena on lena.taylor@jcu.edu.au or 4042 1084. Footnotes 1 See for example Bluh ̈ dorn, I 2009, Locked into the politics of unsustainability Eurozine, <http://www.eurozine.com/articles/20 09-10-30-bluhdornen.html>.
3
Cortese A.D.1999, cited in James, M. & Card, C. 2012, Factors contributing to institutions achieving environmental sustainability. International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education. Vol. 13 No.2, pp. 166-176.
2
Hamilton, C 2011, Hamilton: a new brand of environmental radicalism, Crikey, <http://www.crikey.com.au/2011/02/2 2/hamilton-we-need-a-new-brandofenvironmental-radicalism/>.
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James, M. & Card, C. 2012, Factors contributing to institutions achieving environmental sustainability. International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education. Vol. 13 No.2, pp. 166-176.
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Leon Van Wyk
JCU Permaculture Society I wish to start by acknowledging my place in James Cook University as a first year student… in what is essentially an experimental degree – the Bachelor of Sustainability. I hereby disclose to you that I am indeed; just a student. I do not have “all the answers”. It is a tight rope to walk when one is facilitating a group activity, when one is sharing knowledge and talking of skills that should be developed and practiced. When one is looked to for guidance, those shoes can seem too big to fill.
Greetings, once again. Here we shall speak of how to sustain. The opportunities of living, of breathing, of working with one’s mind and with like-minded others. Here we shall learn about networks and collaboration making light work with many, many hands. Indeed this is where the root of all value is given as a gift given in trust, with rights and responsibilities recognized, is a must.
leon.vanwyk@my.jcu.edu.au
Recently I journeyed forth into the realm of community engagement, to discover if there was support-in-principle for what I was wishing to achieve. My vision was clear, but the language was limiting. I found out how many misconceptions there are around some seemingly common terms. But the expectations and categorizations of processes and regulations are harder to address simply with re-enunciation of ideas. Basically all our actions can be boiled down to the foundational ethics, which are allpervasive in our daily lives and yet remain so utterly implicit. These ethics are not taught to us like facts in a classroom. They are developed more organically from a young age and depend entirely on our environment (social, physical, ecological, cosmological and technological). I can’t explain the details of this process in this column, but suffice to say we have an innate ability to learn and adapt with immense flexibility while we are young. However, as we age, the learnings or habits become more and more ossified, which presents a great internal barrier to changing our behaviour when faced with ‘normal’ everyday events. It appears in ‘developed’ organisms as resistance to change, to act ‘conservatively,’ to maintain the status quo. My initiative – my vision – is a direct challenge to the status quo of linear thinking, of habitual thoughts, and of mindless action/reaction. I wish to challenge everybody’s assumption (including my own) about what ‘sustainability’ actually means to them. Challenge what sustainability means in different situations, different cultural backgrounds, different historical crises, different cosmologies, different workplaces in our community and different disciplines within academia. There is now a network of individuals at JCU who are challenging their assumptions
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about sustainability. This network is composed of a diverse range of people, and where all members have an equal opportunity to be heard and to effect change towards the fulfillment of our common ethics. We are called the JCU Permaculture Society (JCUPS) and are affiliated with the JCU Student Association. We aim to develop a strong and creative social network that includes all people (general community members as well as JCU students and staff) who are united by their respect for the common ethics that are distilled from traditional cultures all over the world. These are: Earth Care, People Care, and Fair Share. We intend to focus our members’ creativity, skills and passion towards collective action and projects that empower individuals and the broader community as a whole. We can mobilize resources for action through partnerships with JCU and other organisations, clubs and businesses in the community, while tapping into the broad networks of many different demographic groups that our members represent. JCUPS has a social session every fortnight on Fridays at the Boathouse in Cairns JCU between 5pm and 6pm. We facilitate members’ meet and greet process with a focus topic for discussion and brainstorming, while endeavoring to liven up the atmosphere with some creative expression such as music, poetry, dance or other art forms. This event fits in between our practical workshops, which run every other Friday from 5 - 6pm as well. More details such as event calendars and membership forms can be found on our Facebook page “JCU Permaculture Society” and on the TropEco website which is generously supporting the JCUPS network by hosting our web presence. Check regularly for our upcoming events! Please share the invitations to those within and beyond your personal sphere of influence. We aim to be an incredibly inspiring, diverse, fun, motivating, productive and innovative social network that gets things done with the grassroots engagement of local, committed community members! Join us today because it doesn’t cost a cent and will reward you with powerful new insights and vitality. In trust, Leon van Wyk President, JCU Permaculture Society
Green Gown Awards JCU Townsville reduces total energy use by 25%
10,600 tonnes JCU recently took out the Green Gown Award for Carbon Reduction at the Australasian Campuses Toward Sustainability (ACTS) conference held in Brisbane from 26th - 28th September. JCUâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Adam Connell and Lania Lynch were there to accept the award for
JCUâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Integrated Approach to Energy Management, which included the Campus District Cooling system and associated projects that have lead to a reduction in carbon emissions of 10,600 tonnes per year and a 40% reduction in peak demand and 25% reduction in total
energy use for the Townsville Campus. Green Gown Award photo above: Left to Right - Paul Rowland, Executive Director, AASHE; Dyson Representative; Leanne Denby, President, ACTS; Lania Lynch, JCU; Adam Connell, JCU.
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Environmental Volunteering in the Dry Tropics Laura Dunstan says that volunteers gain valuable work experience NQ Dry Tropics is the natural resource management body for the Queensland dry tropics region. The area is defined by the Burdekin River catchment and includes six distinct bio-regions. We work with farmers, graziers, coastal groups and the wider community to protect and conserve our land and water resources. Natural resource management isn’t just about primary producers. The urban community also has a stake in the environment and many people volunteer their time for conservation activities such as tree planting, weed removal, turtle tagging, bird counting and waterway monitoring. Anyone and everyone can be involved, and that includes JCU staff and students. JCU students can get involved with environmental volunteering in numerous ways, from a casual afternoon to a lengthy placement. Students who are required to do 50 hours of service learning can put together a diverse activity plan by attending a range of
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environmental events. They might help Creekwatch to monitor water quality, do a few mornings with Coastal Dry Tropics Landcare or assist another group with administration. Students who are doing a longer term placement can gain valuable experience by working with an environmental organisation and getting to know some of the local issues and people in our region. NQ Dry Tropics organises Professional Vacation Placements between JCU students and local environmental groups. Jobs in the environmental field are highly sought after and work experience and contacts are a definite plus when it comes to gaining a position. If you’re looking for valuable work experience, consider volunteering at the NQ Dry Tropics Celebrate the Sea Festival 3 March 2013. The festival is a celebration of both Clean Up Australia Day and National Seaweek, it involves a clean up of Pallarenda beach, environmental displays and activities
TropEco, James Cook University, Tropical Queensland, Australia
and presentations by local scientists and Traditional Owners. Please email laura.dunstan@nqdrytropics.com.au to register your interest. If you’re interested in growing your own food, consider helping out at the JCU Sunshine Edible Garden at Rotary House, which was started by Permaculture Townsville, NQ Dry Tropics and TropEco. JCU staff and students are fortunate to live and work in an amazing region. If you want to help keep it that way, have fun, meet great people, see special places and gain relevant work experience, then get in touch with us. Web – www.nqdrytropics.com.au Facebook – Volunteering Dry Tropics http://www.facebook.com/volunteering. drytropics Twitter - @lauradunstan Email: laura.dunstan@nqdrytropics.com.au, Phone: Laura Dunstan, (07) 4722 5732
Photo: Uwe Mertens
JCU Community Tree Planting Day Volunteers are planting trees to bring back the wildlife and biodiversity to Ross River catchment. Adam Connell reports. About 50 volunteers took part in the Wadda Mooli Creek community tree planting day on Thursday 20th September at JCU. The volunteers, mostly JCU students, planted 500 trees as stage one of the Wadda Mooli revegetation program. The program which aims to reestablish local native vegetation along the creek and enhance biodiversity, is being run by Coastal Dry Tropics Landcare and TropEco. The creek has been designated as a green corridor in JCU’s future master planning and holds high environmental values for JCU. Adam Connell, Environment Manager at JCU, said, “A combination of historical tree clearing, land degradation and damage during cyclone Yasi has resulted in erosion and weed species establishing in the area.”
Photo: Suzy Keys
“We want to start regenerating the area with local native tree species and hopefully this will stabilise the creek banks and attract local wildlife back to the area,” Adam said. Kim Sellars, Community Revegetation Coordinator from Coastal Dry Tropics Landcare said she was pleased with the turnout on the day. “We had plenty of volunteers coming and going throughout the day and everyone put in a great effort to get the trees planted, mulched and watered,” said Kim.
The Wadda Mooli and Goondaloo Creek catchments that flow through JCU are the least disturbed in the Ross River catchment and support a rich biodiversity of native flora and fauna including habitat for some rare and threatened species. The project is jointly funded by JCU’s TropEco program and the Dahl Trust’s “Tree’s after Yasi” fund. Additional planting days are expected to be held later this year or in early 2013. For more information contact Adam Connell - adam.connell@jcu.edu.au
“This project compliments the work we are doing at the hospital on Goondaloo Creek, downstream from this site, where we’ve planted over 3000 trees to date and removed large areas of leucaena and other woody weeds.”, Kim commented. TropEco, James Cook University, Tropical Queensland, Australia
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Reflections on a Master Class with
Prof. Clive Hamilton SOS
Johanna Kloot, Lania Lynch & Colin MacGregor reflect on humanity’s inability to save itself and the recent Master Class with Professor Clive Hamilton. ‘Perhaps the single biggest barrier to action on climate change is the fact that it doesn’t hit us in the gut…' Begins David Roberts, in the first of three readings supporting Professor Clive Hamilton’s master class. Roberts1’ article, combined with the writings of Naomi Klein2 (who reports from a climate deniers conference, where delegates propose climate change is ‘a green Trojan horse, whose belly is full with red Marxist socioeco3 nomic doctrine’) and Bill McKibben (who points out the odds of the current global temperature rise occurring by chance are slimmer than the ‘number of stars in the universe’) highlight the complexity of issues we are faced with as sustainability practitioners. Professor Hamilton is no newcomer to these issues. Perhaps best known as the founder and, for 14 years, Executive Director of the Australia Institute, Clive Hamilton has a formidable intellect and has been an influential contributor to sustainability debates in Australia. Using the readings, Professor Hamilton led a master class on the scale of the problem the world faces, the psychology of resistance to taking measures to protect ourselves from the threat, and the way in which responding to climate change has become a left-right issue. Attended by Bachelor of Sustainability students, and staff from different parts of the university, the class proved to be of interest to people approaching sustainability in different ways.
As a student of ‘Sustainability’ Johanna Kloot noted: The readings for the master class highlighted the seriousness of our collective situation, with regard to climate change. The class reminded me why I am studying sustainability and how important it is to be qualified in order to help trend the decisions in the best direction. For Lania Lynch, responsible for running a number of Cairns campus sustainability initiatives, the class: ‘was informative, clear and highlighted the challenges we face in overcoming the apathy that has become increasingly apparent over recent years. From a personal perspective it was refreshing and inspiring to have such an eminent scientist engaging so well with students and staff around climate change and sustainability issues. It reinforced to me that the time to act is now’. And Dr. Colin Macgregor, Senior Lecturer in Sustainability mused: The ‘debate’ (such as it is) surrounding climate change demonstrates very well the pluralistic and contested nature of the issues lying within the sustainability space i.e. the variety of interpretations that arise when there are so many stakeholders. Of course, this is not unusual in sustainability where most of the issues and challenges may be described as ‘wicked’ problems (difficult to define, measure and solve – and are highly contentious). What is clear from the climate change example, given the emerging urgency and scale of the problem, that approaching a solution must involve
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international political cooperation (and probably enforcement) at an extent so far not witnessed by humanity. This may prove to be the ultimate test, and perhaps demonstration (if one believes the glass to be ‘half-full’), for a truly global civil society. The question is, will we be able to put the necessary socio-political processes and structures in place before catastrophic ecological, economic and social consequences emerge? JCU is putting an increased emphasis on sustainability. If you have any ideas, or requests for sustainability related events or workshops, contact Lena Taylor (lena.taylor@jcu.edu.au). After the class, Professor Hamilton gave a public lecture and visited the Daintree Rainforest Observatory with members of the Faculty of Science and Engineering. You can listen to the lecture at: http://jcu.edu.au/fse/seminarseries/ind ex.htm Clive Hamilton is currently Professor of Public Ethics at Charles Sturt University in Canberra. He has held visiting academic positions at the University of Cambridge, Yale University and the University of Oxford. His books include Growth Fetish, The Freedom Paradox: Towards a post-secular ethics and Requiem for a Species: Why we resist the truth about climate change. He is currently writing a book on climate engineering and the future of humanity. For more information see www.clivehamilton.net.au
What about ME?
Footnotes 1
David Roberts, "Why climate change doesn't spark moral outrage, and how it could", Grist, 27 July 2012: http://grist.org/article/whyclimate-change-doesnt-spark-moral-outrageand-how-it-could/ 2
Naomi Klein, "Capitalism vs. the Climate", The Nation, 10 November 2011: http://www.thenation.com/article/164497/capital ism-vs-climate 3
Bill McKibben, "Global Warming's Terrifying New Math", Rolling Stone, 2 August 2012: http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/glob al-warmings-terrifying-new-math-20120719
Photo Right: Head of School Professor Paul Dirks left, with Professor Clive Hamilton at the Daintree Rainforest Observatory. Photo Below: Professor Clive Hamilton (holding the flower) with the Bachelor of Sustainability students and staff following the Master Class on Friday September 14, 2012 at Cairns Campus.
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calling all JCU students!
Submit your entry and win >>
A $300 JB HiFi voucher Design an original colour poster with a “Recycling and Waste Minimisation” theme and send it into us by Friday 23 November. If you win, your artwork will be displayed on the side of a council recycling truck for 12 months! unfolded original entries should be sent to >>
Recycling Truck Art Competition c/o Recycling Educator – Integrated Sustainability Services PO Box 1268, Townsville QLD 4810 or email digital entries to >> kate.cuzzilla@townsville.qld.gov.au
ville. qld. gov. a s n w o t . w Visit ww s apply
competition closes friday 23 November
u for details
i on condi t s and Ter m
conditions of entry >> The Recycling Truck Art Competition is open to both secondary and primary school students. Entries are limited to one per person. The artwork must be of original design featuring no copyright logos or characters. Entries must be of landscape orientation and no smaller than A4 in size. by entering this competition, you agree to >> a) The picture entered being displayed on a council waste services vehicle with your school name and year level appearing alongside the image. b) Inclusion of the Townsville City Council and our sponsor logos on the final image. c) Participate in any media opportunities that may arise as a result of the competition. d) The winning entry being displayed on council waste vehicles for 12 months from date of unveiling. Judges decision is final. A $250 gift voucher will be issued to the primary school winner in both categories for retailer of their choice. *The winning secondary school student entry will receive a 16GB Apple iPad with Wi-Fi. Prize includes Apple Ipad only. Colour choice will depend on the stock available at the time. Prizes are not transferable or redeemable for cash. Judging for the competition will take place on Tuesday 30 October. Winners will be notified by 5pm, Wednesday 31 October. Prizes and cheques will be made available for collection during the presentation ceremony held during National Recycling Week (12 – 16 November 2012).