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SuStainability Street: Diy … DiO !

OurselvesShOrtcut tO

VerSiOn 4.1 July 2012

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As Sustainability Street Communities we acknowledge that we live and work on the traditional lands of the indigenous Nations who are the traditional owners of Terra Australis. We honour their living culture, the oldest on this planet. To the elders of the traditional owners we pay our deep and abiding respect and to them we dedicate our work for ecological sustainability.

Furthermore, we assert, with fulsome conviction, that ecological sustainability and community wellbeing will be more profoundly achieved in this country to the extent that the modern Australian Nation ...

a) acknowledges, respects and learns from the profound depth of traditional Aboriginal knowledge, wisdom, life

Geraldine Doogue, AO “I am delighted to support Sustainability Street as one of its Patrons. It sounds like a classic example of pooling resources and of having lots of fun as well. The benefits will surely be short, medium and long-term. Einstein once

said that the greatest quality of all was imagination. This project is riddled with it and that’s one of the reasons I so like the sound of it.”

Rob Gell. “To play a support role in the evolution of Sustainability Street was one of those things I couldn’t pass up. There’s nothing more positive than to actually demonstrate how something can work and Sustainability Street does just that; for the street, the neighbourhood and the wider community. Sustainability Street has the potential to be the culture shift model we’ve been looking for, showing us how to do more with less and enjoy doing it.”

Sustainability Street®, Mulch-Sow-Grow-Harvest, Dynamic Capacity Building, It’s A Village Out There®,, The Seven Sustainability Beacons, The Southern Cross of Optimism, The ecological fingerprint, The Eight Principles of Sustainability, The Communiversity, Purposeful Informality, The New Relationship, EnviroLinks, the Sustainability Shortcuts and all other nomenclature, terms and notions clearly located as a part of the The Sustainability Street® Approach are © and comprised of numerous proprietorial concepts and products developed and used as stock in trade by Vox Bandicoot P/L since 1988. The full rights of the creators are asserted. Use of this material, or any part of the terminology or methodology of the Sustainability Street Approach is permitted only under licence, with which important support is also available. See sustainabilitystreet.org.au for details. Duplication of this material or use of terms, concepts, nomenclature, formats, notions, resonances, derivations or even hints of similarity, etc, for profit, commercial activity or as any part of gaining imbursement, fees or wages is strictly prohibited without the written permission of the authors. However, as with any of the copious body of wonderful, high quality Vox Bandicoot ecological sustainability and future shaping material, any and all independent use by friends and neighbours supporting each

other for the benefit of community & nature is thoroughly encouraged. Sustainability Street® has been developed over twenty five years by

Vox Bandicoot … from original concepts devised by Frank Fitzgerald-Ryan. This book was written by Frank Fitzgerald-Ryan. Edited by Ian

McBurney. • Warm thanks to respected colleague and wise, uber editor ... Nancy Tsernjavski.• Artwork by Sharyn Madder, finest ee.artist in Australia. See

voxbandicoot.com.au/shazzart. Vox Bandicoot Pty Ltd … ABN 41 007 046 933 … since 1988 … committed to ecological sustainability and the transcendence of society through environmental education, neighbourhood building and participant driven culture change programs which are based on fun, learning and work … in that order.

perception, cultural understanding and the effect of all that on land, community, kinship and clan.

b) engage in a just, truthful, generous and abiding reconciliation with contemporary Aboriginal Australia, and extend sincere, reparations backed apology for significant and often obscene past wrongs of the order of historic crimes against humanity.

c) acknowledges also, in the words of Gough Whitlam, that until these things are achieved, the entire modern Australian Nation remains diminished.

The SSA is dedicated to Prof. Steve Van Matre, WV, USA … www.eartheducation.org … and …

… to the memory of our dear friend, Caty Kyne … great “hedgerow” teacher, poet, revolutionary & classic celt.

Patrons of Sustainability Street

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Foreword Page 4

The Sustainability Street Tree. Page 7

One Purpose ... Coming Home ... To The Earth Page 8

Two Social Springboards Page 9

Three Areas of Daily Focussed Effort Page 11

Four Stages of Learning and Growth Page 13

Five Beacons or Blockers Page 15

Six Steps for Village Building Page 17

Seven Supporting Ideas Page 19

Eight Principles Page 21

Jargon, Pedagogy & Glossary Page 25

Final Words of Encouragement Page 28

Sustainability Street has helped me to create a new and broader network with people in the local neighbourhood ... it feels like the message is really flowing out into the community.

Jytte, Mackellar Primary School ... a story from the real world ...

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Dear Streeter,

Welcome to the “Shortcut to Sustainability Street; DIO”. “Discovering” the Shortcut has required us to travel a long and winding Scenic Route, which dates back to the year 2000, wintertime, when I first sat at my desk and penned the immortal words “Sustainability Street: It’s a Village Out There.” Since then, over 300 communities around Australia have put their own mark on shaping our future deciding to use the Sustainability Street Approach as the roots to ground their journey together.

Before we get into the nuts and bolts, it is worth looking at the thinking behind the Approach.

The SSA is about caring for nature and for community ... by inviting nature and community to care for us … the rest flows quite naturally. Sustainability Street, at its simplest, is a basic training program designed to nurture sustainable living both at home and around the neighbourhood. But, it can and so often has also been whatever the imagination of a local group dreams up. So far, some of the dreams realised have been … small “street” festivals, community gardens, neighbourhood sustainability kits, new neighbour welcome packs, street libraries, projects with local schools, a food cooperative, frogponds, etc, etc, etc. Getting together and saving the Earth, locally, is so simple! It is hard wired into our species being! And so rewarding! Indeed, eventually, the actual “Sustainability Street Program”, can shift from becoming something “a community does”, to becoming “something a community is”!

The SSA is very local, bite size and human scale. It is unlike issue-based campaigns, or programs. It is also unlike top down “community education programs” in which experts are “on top instead of on tap”. It is about us re-shaping our culture, bit by bit, street by street, day by day. It is about education, learning and self/group transformation which is the crucible for culture

change. Culture is the ultimate determinant of our relationship with the natural world and with each other. We ourselves are the best architects of the emerging new culture because we all have

the primary qualifications for culture crafting ... and they are ... imagination and common sense. With these two, the mountain of solutions we can adopt, adapt and invent are diverse and scintillating … because no two communities are the same and nobody can tell a community how to be a community and what a self sculpted, self reliant community creates so powerful.

At Sustainability Street jargon parties, we also talk of the “CommUniversity” … because we are all learners and teachers. While on the one hand, the SSA offers a course in the waste, water and energy which are propping up our “profoundly un-sustainable” lives, on the other hand, in all of our communities there already exists great depth of wisdom, diversity of knowledge collections of stories about and experience in how to live sustainably. This is where the CommUniversity is drawn from.

The SSA is absolutely not about guilt, doom, gloom or yet another 101 “green-tips”. The SSA does not spoonfeed nor provide a font of information per se; getting information is why those kids invented Google. Neither does it waste time arguing with the no-sayers and deniers. Nor is it ideological or political or driven by “the good opinions of others” on how we should live. We know how to live.

The SSA’s narrative and structure builds on this, enabling us to accomplish our individual and community potential, through group self-management. It is about opportunities, possibilities and solutions, because, we actually know what to do. The SSA honours that we all know, deep down that we must craft a better relationship with the Earth. And the SSA, which after all is us, knows we will be inherently good at it.

Along the way, to be “the guide beside”, to lubricate and mentor, the Approach is built on tools, principles, guidelines and templates, which foster imagination. Thousands of people using the Sustainability Street Approach, have found the deep reward in living a tiny bit differently and more authentically, enjoying each other, enjoying the Earth and treating both like they are family.

Everybody who’s ready finds it so easy. Basically, we all know what pollution and waste looks like in our lives ... it is not rocket surgery!! It’s a choice, we can just let the future happen, or we can take steps to shape it, in some small, creative and satifying way, every day.

The biggest thing to get our heads around is that the community making, social change and culture crafting is the deeper meaning and purpose of the Sustainability Streeet Approach. It is a local, social and very human scale way of organising together to achieve our mutually defined objectives, both social and ecological. The more enjoyable it is the more successful we’ll be. If we have fun saving the Earth, the Earth will be saved! The more we enjoy caring for and connecting with each other right, caring for and connecting with the Earth will flow on naturally. Our local place will be so much richer and so much more nourishing!

Returning to the jargon, the SSA is driven by “Dynamic Capacity Building” and also “Deep Sustainability”, which

Foreword ...

Deep

Sustainbility

Dynamic

Capacity

Building

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is a wholistic, integrated environmental education construct. It comprises values clarification, human scale insights and practices which foster a deep, personal and lifetime approach to ecological sustainability. It needs a little bit of risk and a pile of outreaching, embracing kindness and love for life on Earth. DCB and DS ensure that a Sustainability Street Village is totally defined by and then thrives according to its participants. The DCB and the DS are like training wheels … they promote a visceral, values based and transformative engagement with ecological sustainability, our celebration of nature and they foster the social richness of neighbourhood relationships.

Along the way, there are huge personal benefits too. Medical research indicates that establishing or re-establishing a basic level of social connectedness in our communities is at the pinnacle of choices for health and wellbeing. According to USA social epidemiologist, Prof. Lisa Berkman, hanging out together, can add ten healthy years to our lifespan.

The SSA has acheived positive results according to a 3 year evaluation study by Victoria University ...

• Reductions in household waste, energy & water of 30% (and up to 84.2%!) ... and ... all within the context of understanding this as the huge contribution to biodiversity ... which it is!

• The creation of extraordinary self devised and delivered, local environment projects. Whether large or small, like beacons, they’ve helped to influence other people’s interest and openess to ecological sustainability.

• Deep satisfaction of making wonderful, new local connections and friendships ...

Finally, this is the Shortcut to Sustainability Street. There is a mountain of further ideas, plans, projects and details on everything you’ll read here at www.sustainabilitystreet.org.au. This is the Shortcut, for the scenic routs to Susstainability Street ... get online!

Faithfully Yours,

Frank Fitzgerald-Ryan Dip. Ed. (Env), B.A. (Soc)

Founder & Principal, Vox Bandicoot Pty Ltd

Creator of the Sustainability Street Approach

President; Sustainability Street Institute

Winner: Banksia Environmentl Award

Winner: Victorian Association for Environmental Education Environmental Education Prize

Winner: Community Essendon Action to Save Environment; C.E.A.S.E. AWARD

Winner: New York Film & Television Award; Education Category

Finalist: United Nations Association Environment Day Award.

Finalist: Eureka Award; Environmental Education.

Finalist: Melbourne Award; 2011

Fellow: Smithsonian Institution Washington DC

Life Member: Victorian Association for Environmental Education.

Champion: Watermark Australia, Victorian Women’s Trust.

Creator of the ecological•fingerprint; appraised and endorsed by Dr. David Suzuki.

Vox Bandicoot; 1988 - 2012. Passionate environmental education since late last century! Breathe, smile, slow down … then … listen to the Earth ... & ...grow our own food

... best way to do all four!

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Leaves … that’s Us … there are millions of us ... proccesing the “sunlight” and producing the sap of our SSA communities ... gifting the oxygen which sustains community connection, ideas, doggedness and good ol’ simple human scale enjoyment!

Branches … Numerous & diverse styles, communities & programs. ... as many different as there are communities ... each village; defined by energised according to its members. Every branch a blank canvas for the group devised opportunities and solutions

Trunk … The Sustainability Street Institute ... is a vehicle for the collaborative imagineers of future boosting environmental education, our stories & community conversations, the sociology of change, human doggedness and our profound common sense, creativity and imagination.

Roots... The Eight Aspects provide a foundation and springboard for your path to community building and sustainable living. On the one hand you can use the Eight Aspects to work through the SSA online course of learning and action. On the other hand, you can use the Eight Aspects as a foundation or touchstone for any program or project you’re into ... such as a local community garden, neighbourhood street market/food swap, a permaculture or Transition group, a children’s garden/nature sharing project, etc.

The Sustainability Street Tree

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• One Purpose … The Earth

• Two Social Springboards

• Three Areas Of Daily Focussed Effort

• Four Stages of change and growth

• Five Beacons or Barriers

• Six Steps for Village Building

• Seven Supporting Ideas

• Eight Principles

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We need to re-build our relationship with the Earth in terms of both feelings and understandings ... love for this planet, sheer wonder at how life works on Earth and how to live in harmony. What could be more important than to relearn, repair and rebuild our relationship with the Earth? Is this not the single greatest challenge, and opportunity, in all of human history?

We humans are but one, single species of life among, so many, many millions of others. All have felt our impact. Every living system on the planet has been in decline. Our impact on the earth has

been so complete that we have created a new geological age: the anthropocene.

This time of ecological crisis is an opportunity. It is a chance to draw on the very best of human traits

… imagination, wisdom, empathy and doggedness … to craft a “new way of being” which is gentle to the Earth. The anthropocene epoch of human impact is being bookmarked by damage on the one

hand … and, on the other, by the glorious reconnection and loving repair of the Earth ... which is underway.

This new relationship must be fuelled by contact with, wonder about and ... with loving respect. Through spending time with the natural world … moments, minutes or months … often … individually and with others, we will rebuild our relationship with the Earth, in both feelings and understandings!

If we want to, we can “accept”, as did thousands of previous human generations, the absolute genius of this planet. We can hold the Earth close to our hearts. Listen to the Earth, speak with the Earth and feel the Earth. Through homage and pilgrimage to nature the relationship shifts from head to heart and boosts our understanding that the most important thing about ecological sustainability … is, the ecological bit. Many indigenous cultures hold that no decision should be taken or change made, if it harms or reflects badly on 7 generations of ancestors or 7 generations of descendents.

The Sustainability Street Approach is based on re-igniting such human reverence for the Earth’s beauty, life and mystery! Then, inspired, restored and re-nourished by our re-newed relationship with our planet which is so much more vast, ancient

and clever than humanity, we act.

We know what to do! We rise up and overturn the culture of waste and pollution. We create a new culture of sustainable living and Earth healing. And a new economy comprised of new industries, priorities and processes bit by bit … right here in our suburbs, streets, towns and hamlets.

The day to day struggle and joy of repecting and re-connecting with nature returns us to our place in the great circle of life, in which, like all of life, we can create the conditions conducive to life.

The key is to touch the Earth ... and invite the Earth to touch us!

“Only in the last moment in history has the delusion arisen that people can flourish apart from the rest of the living world.” E.O. Wilson,

author and biologist

One Purpose ... coming home ...

... to rebuild our relationship with the Earth.

“When you visit the bush, you don’t get away from it all, you come back to it all. You “come

home” to what’s important. You come home to yourself.”

Peter Dombrovskis,

Photographer to the Franklin River

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Modern human history is jam packed with wonderful examples of “The Asymmetrical Power Of Local People Power”. More than that, while not happy with the pugilistic analogy, the power of local people power to “punch above its weight”, is even more awesome. The great Paul Hawken tells an amazing story about how one person, through happenstance, stumbled on a copy of the book “Civil Disobedience”. Through an equally random chain of circumstances, it was then given to Mahatma Ghandi, who, galvanised by the book, became a monumental catalyst for change. The point is that the “unknown” individual who found and passed the book on, is also a crucial player in the changes Ghandi achieved. So many great advances in history, learning and culture are overflowing with “unknown individuals”.

“Every thing we do affects not just ourselves & not just our friends and relatives ... but also dozens, or hundreds & sometimes possibly thousands of other people.” - Nicholas Christakis, Author, Connected:

Each individual and small group has an absolute and incredible capacity to influence others, culture and society. The spread of cultural renewal, change and ecological sustainability CAN become (is becoming?) exponential. Culture, the way we run our society can and does change. The keystone moments of change and transformation in our recent human history have been built on the doggedness of untold unknown individuals and groups. The SSA calls it the Accumulation & Trigger theory of world culture shift. The Berlin wall fell “overnight” not only because of the sledge-hammers on that particular night, but also because there had been an accumulation of so many human acts, ideas, meetings, initiatives, prayers …

and the trigger was East German President, Eric Hoenekker’s arrogant, soviet style silliness in the face of 1989’s perestoika. It is not easy turning around the modern, Earth/community-phobic conditioning of decades. But it so can be done! We may each be just one single person or one small group . But we are also one more person or one small group who can become so much stronger, connected, fulfilled, enriched, accomplished … and influential … thus part of the greatest ever of global and local triumphs called ... “our little community”!

Indeed, in its Agenda 21 document, the 1992 Rio Earth Summit coined the term ‘capacity building’ and indicated that small communities and Local Government had a major role to play. The summit defined capacity building as ‘catalysing communities with the support, respect, encouragement and resources to play a defining role in how sustainability is achieved’. Capacity building the Sustainability Street way is about the 3 R’s: Relationships, Risks and Respect. ‘Dynamic Capacity Building’ relies on new relationships within communities and between agencies (local government) based on respect and taking risks with the big ideas which communities can create.

It has been described as “inside out” or “entwined” rather than the traditional ‘top down’, or to a lesser extent, ‘bottom up’ relationships that predominate, and will continue to have a role. In a word, or two, the Sustainability Street Approach is founded upon relevance to and control by local communities … and the breath-taking power we have to influence another local community

Two Social Springboards

A. The asymetrical power ... of "local" people power ...

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Having studied communities since the 1960s, Sociologist Robert Putnam reveals that our cohesion, grouping, bonding and sense of belonging is breaking down in modern society. We have become “socially atomised” and it is having a negative effect on our health and our communities in terms of safety, crime and support. He suggests that in America, more people watch the TV show ‘Friends’, than have friends, perhaps here in

Australia … more people watch ‘Neighbours’ than talk to their neighbours. Putnam talks about increasing ‘social capital’ through ‘Civic Invention’; that is, creating new, relevant reasons to come together and enjoy each other’s company.

John Rawlston-Saul speaks of re-engaging the individual with public life through a judicious mix of values, common sense and the idea of a reasonable way forward, in preference to being driven by ideology.

In the 1970’s, French Sociologist Alain Tourraine put the view that, on balance, governments are followers rather than leaders, that in fact, they are moved to initiative and action based on the ‘push from community’ and indeed, we hear today of ‘poll driven governments’ and focus group policy making all around the world.

So, rather than great leaders or timely laws, Tourraine speaks of a powerful community evolution and growth process ... of society Transcending itself through its own day to day, week to week operation. Change which is based on the idea of society’s capacity to transcend itself through social movements, both large and small.

Basically, as individuals and as groups of people we are always changing and becoming something else. The more we are involved in participating in how our communities relate and the objectives we set for our communities, the more we shape what we become.

Chilean economist & sustainability thinker, Manfred Max Neef, speaks of the need for life to return to being ‘human scale’. As exemplification he wistfully recalls the local corner shop of not so very long ago, where one could walk in, recognise the shopkeeper, say hello to a neighbour and wish a friend good luck, as opposed to the huge, fluorescent modern shopping malls where one can be totally alone amongst thousands of people.

Max Neef likened a human scale method for change to a swarm of mosquitoes, that can bring down a rhinoceros, because the swarm is united, persistent, annoying and has no leader to be picked off.

Sustainability Street makes a significant contribution to community connectivity and

resilience. There is more sharing of resources, knowledge and skills, feeling mowre secure, knowing

peoples names, feeling more connected, feeling better about their community, and increased

opportunities to socialise. They were also more engaged with other community and environmental

events.

Victoria University Study,

2006

B. The new reason to be neighbours.

“People who are socially isolated are more likely to die early from just about every cause you could think of. Even a small change in social connected ness can radically ameliorate this”.

Professor Lisa Berkman

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Waste, water and energy are the direct connection from each of our homes and workplaces to the giant natural systems and the vast remaining wilderness. Our waste, water and energy habits are directly linked to the breadth of biological diversity, to the quality of our urban air and to the dams, wind farms or land quality. The tap, the bin and the switches in our homes provide us with immediate and practical opportunities to begin to live more sustainably. An important mental technique it to visualise an aspect of nature “as the light switch, rubbish bin or bicycle”. Imagine the big brown eyes, set in the tiny face of the severly endangered and climate sensitive mountain pygmy possum peering fratefully at your wise energy use decisions. Or see magnificent clean wild oceans and forests glistening with health as a result of your waste and rubbish minimistion. Consider your bicycle, bus ticket or walking shoes as being plated in gold.

Regularly get together to apply the Four Stages of the SSA, Mulch Grow, Harvest and Sow, page 13 and go through each one on

The Waste Shortcut:“W.R.A.P.”W.R.A.P stands for ‘Worms, Recyclable, Avoidable and Paraphernalia’. On face value, based on the 5% paraphernalia which is ‘real rubbish’, we should only need to put our rubbish bins out once every 20 weeks. A whopping 95% of what goes in the bin is compostable, recyclable, or avoidable at point of purchase. This gives us amazing power to make a huge difference. The quite well known Suzuki family, of Canada, have reduced their paraphernalia, or ‘real rubbish’, to a one litre carton full per month.

The Water Shortcut: Think GaBaToiLaKi!This mnemonic is the water conservation word for the 21st century for the majority of the Australian Eastern Seaboard … because … if we have a broad, instinctive, conceptual understanding of where the water goes, we know where to focus the effort to reduce the use. In Victoria, focusing on ‘Ga, Ba and Toi’ alone give us power over 75% of our water consumption. Anything else we do is a bonus!

Three Areas Of Daily Focussed Effort

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The Energy Shortcut: ‘H.W.A.C.L’

H.W.A.C.L stands for ‘How We All Can Learn - to priorise energy conservation or ‘Heating, Water, Appliances, Cooking and Lighting’ which are the key focus areas where we can save energy @ home and work. In Victoria most energy is used around homes is devoured by the heater (and increasingly the cooler) and the hot water service. This represents 60 - 80% of our energy, the heater and the hot water service are where to focus our activities to “sustain smarter not harder”.

Getting About

Outside the house transport energy makes up 38% of the average Australian household greenhouse gas emissions. This hits the hip pocket too. A study undertaken by the cycling promotion fund found that cycling 10km to and from work each day saves $1700 per year in direct car related expenses! Healthier heart and bank balance.

I, for one believe that if you give people a thorough understanding of what confronts them and the basic causes that produce it, they will create their own program, and when the people create a program, you get action.”

Celebrated US Civil Rights leader, Malcolm X

The creation of the Sustainability Street concept has made it possible to extend the boundaries of what one household can do, and (we) believe that as a community a great deal can be achieved.”

Margaret, East Keilor Sustainability Street Inc.

I can’t fix the whole world, but I can sure work on my little bit of it.”

Jason, first ever SS village, Coburg.

Sustainability Street makes it much easier to put in the extra effort and thought that a life based on sustainable issues needs.

Doone, North Melbourne.

& The SSA Low Hanging Fruit Tree.

UNEP research indicates that 30% improvement is easily achievable through ‘good housekeeping’ of the easy, cheap ‘Low Hanging Fruit’. Remember that the small things add up and, are just as good a contribution as the funky expensive things. Perhaps better, for so many cultural reasons!

Four Stages

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Mulch, Grow, Harvest Sow … Learn, Live, Celebrate, Influence others ... four stages of Personal & Village Growth A blank canvas for you to individually or as a Village, decide how and what you’d like to learn, to do and how to celebrate the very fact that you’re on this journey and to celebrate your accomplishments. Then, best of all, how you all believe you can best reach out to teach, mentor, model, influence, and inspire others. Mulch, Grow, Harvest, Sow or Learn, Do, Celebrate and Teach … in a constantly evolving cycle … just

like the Earth teaches.

To maintain freshness and energy, the SSA recommends that you keep cycling through Mulch, Grow, Harvest, Sow … Mulch, Grow, Harvest, Sow … and Sow … Mulch, Grow, Harvest, Sow … and Sow …and Sow … and Sow!!!! … until you become dizzy with joy and pride.

Four Stages

Four Stages … a continuous cycle of learning and growth.

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we all have a fairly strong sense of what pollution and waste looks like these days. A bonus is that the instant you make a decision to be involved in dealing with the pollution and waste in your life … then, the tips, insights, information and exciting understandings will come to you!

Just watch! We call it the Blue Volkswagon theorum. When you start driving a Blue Volksy as an 18 year old … you will suddenly see them everywhere, though previously there were none on the road.

Sustainability Street manifestations ... the eating meeting and drinking thinking … tea, red cordial, etc.

These four stages helped to guide us over an 18 month program. We built a reference to each into each meeting. We used to think ... what can we celebrate this month, what needs planning, how can

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It’s our choice! Each can be a beacon for guiding our reassessment of our values … or a blocker if we continue in blissful, business as usual ignorance. It’s all pretty huge now that we’ve decided we are going to help save the world. The whole “environment debate” can be very complicated, vested and nuanced. There are green issues, blue issues, brown issues … there are issues of justice and jobs, vivisection, not to forget uranium, salinity and polychlorinatedbiphenyls to think about. Hence, the five Beacons, or Blockers. They are Beacons if we act on them and Blockers if we don’t. The SSI has tried to ‘organise’ the whole environmental debate into these five. Clearly, in the 21st Century, the smart nations, companies, individuals and communities will be those who embrace the ecological sustainability challenge. These Five issues and concepts provide reference points for decision-making. We all make dozens, scores, hundreds of “Earth Decisions” every day, week, month, and the Five Beacons are as relevant to National Institutions, business and culture, as they are to us and our next-door neighbour. Perhaps more importantly, as with ecology itself, is the connectivity or the flow on effect between and among them … a reduction in greenhouse pollution will assist biodiversity, which in turn may benefit in the amelioration of chemicals in the environment which could enhance the growth of oceanic algae which may turn out to be the best carbon mitigation sink, which, then … and so it goes … we are all a part of a big organism.

First Beacon; Learn about, then live each day to protect and restore Biological Diversity. The alarming, accelerating and exponentially increasing loss of biological diversity is modernity’s steadfastly ignored mineshaft canary. The ‘natural’ rate of extinction is one or two species per century. We are currently losing this many per hour. While Australia has done some truly great work in habitat and species protection since the 1980’s, we also have the world’s worst record for mammal extinctions of any continent. We continue to clear vegetation at one of the highest rates on Earth. Biological diversity is the safety net of life on this planet. We humans are just one species of life among as many as 30 million other species. Yet, our species has impacted every single other species, landform and niche. We don’t even know which species we are losing because the majority remain undiscovered by science. Nor do we know about the loss of “ecological services” said to be “worth” trillions of dollars. The free, natural economy services are worth way more than the so called “real” economy. Yet, some undiscovered microbe may well be the lynchpin or keystone species for an ecological chain of natural pest control for human food production ... or potential medical or scientific opportunities. Who knows what mysteries are being lost, everyday.

Second Beacon; Learn about, then live each day to protect and restore the soil, the air and the water. Just like all other life forms, humans need clean soil, clean air and clean water to survive. Yet, our mad, modern activities are putting inordinate stress on the big natural systems. Urban air quality, atmosphere damage, contamination of waterways and oceans and the alarming loss of topsoil. Indeed, each year the world loses 100 million tonnes of its best farming land. Each year we also add 100 million new, hungry mouths to our human population.

I just love Sustainability St, as for the first time since 1981 when I moved into this home, I have started to know more of my neighbours and have been part of a very positive community project.” Hannele, Tulloh St Sustainability Group, 2008

Five Beacons ... or Blockers

The loss of biodiversity is also a profound loss to our humanity. The iconic, spiritual and inspiring characters of our stories and dreams, are a loss of a part of ourselves. How can we let these great and magnificent creatures such as tigers, wallabies or elephants disappear?

Their extinction will bequeath us a spiritual and aesthetic chasm. Extinction will place the whole network of life in peril, in ways we simply do not understand. Saddest of all though, is for the creatures themselves, for whom, extinction is forever.

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Third Beacon; To eliminate both the concept of waste and “waste” itself. We need to think of waste in two ways. Firstly, there’s ‘waste,’ the stuff in the bin. Secondly, and way more pernicious, is ‘waste,’ the cultural concept. This attitude spills into the fact that every litre of purchased bottled water can “require” many hundreds of litres to produce, cradle to grave. And, the fact that 50% of our domestic garbage each week contains organic material which goes to landfill to become the “super-greenhouse gas”, methane. Or the fact that 25% of vehicle trips in Australia are less than 2km. In Melbourne, an amazing 1.29-million passenger car trips per day are over distances of less than 1km, about a healthy seven-minute walk, and according to AustRoads, a whopping 61% of all car trips are less than 10km, an easy cycling distance. So, how do we feel about our modern, consumer society being propped up by this crutch called wastefulness? Surely it’s insane given that the cheap disposability actually hides the “true cost” — which is damage to the environment. Presently considered an “economic externality”, the “cost” of which is not accounted ... but which we will have to pay for with real dollars, jobs and prosperity loss in the future. Nature has been “subsidising” us for all the decades of our mad modernity.

On the up side of course, waste and recycling programs have been one of the great environmental success stories of recent years. Peter Brotherton says that recycling an item has a 40 times benefit in terms of “resources” required. And on the other up side, there is still so much waste out there that it gives us plenty to work on.

Fourth Beacon; Know our personal energy addiction … then live each day to kick the habit. As we all well know now, excessive consumption of fossil fuels, coal, oil and gas, is creating unsustainable greenhouse gas pollution, global warming and climate change. The CSIRO has indicated that the greenhouse effect has already had an impact on 30% of Australia’s species and habitats. According to the Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change, glacier and polar melts are already raising sea levels 3mm per year, which could in turn have drastic

consequences on the ocean currents which will further affect the climate. Coral reefs the world over, including our own Great Barrier Reef, are showing signs of serious degradation such as bleaching. With a water temperature rise

of just one degree, the coral reefs may well be gone. We CAN prevent that extra degree, if we want to. Changes in climate is causing new strains of disease to emerge and the WHO now calls climate change the biggest health threat of the 21C. The spin off benefits from energy conservation are also huge, ranging from financial through to reducing the impact of motor vehicle fumes on urban air quality which is having measurable mortality implications.

Wollongong City Council research showed that 20 people in one Sustainability Street Village directly educated 270 people in the wider community and indirectly reached 600. How many people can your community reach...?

Fifth Beacon; Understand our place in the population explosion and live each day to redress the injustice. The human population of planet Earth reached 1000 million in 1880. By 1930, a mere 50 years later, it was 2.5 billion. That is as many people born in 50 years, as it firstly took all previous human history to reach. Then, by 1990 doubling again, shooting to 5 billion. It is now over 7 billion. This last “spurt”, in just 20 years or so, has added what it had previously taken all of human history, to 1880, to reach in the first place. But, the population explosion is not a simple numbers thing! As well as arithmetic, its also a question of justice. Higher population doesn’t necessarily equate to higher ecological impact. Far from it! A mere 20% of the world’s population, the minority of humans in the rich, ‘developed’ world, are consuming 80% of the world’s resources and causing, as a consequence, 80% of the ecological degradation. This is why the human population explosion is one of the 5 Beacons. Obviously, we can’t personally have an impact on the gross numbers of people on Earth. But we can have an impact on our impact. Our developed, western and relatively wealthy lifestyles are the primary cause of global environmental degradation and a cause of serious disparity and injustice between nations. The population is already clearly unsustainable based on current economic and social practices. Rates of growth that are declining, but still growing on a hugely inflated base such that by 2050 there will be 9 billion humans. We should make no mistake, that with current systems of economics and international relations, which is based on the madness of yesterday’s anti-nature and unsustainable thinking, the prospect of 9 billion of us is quite chilling. According to Professor Paul Erlich, writer of “the Population Bomb” in the 1960s, the most effective control of population growth results from justice, education and equal opportunity for women. If we add to that the absolutely real possibility of and opportunity for a local and global economic system which is about nourishing life on Earth, repairing nature and bringing ‘ecolo-nomic’ abundance and prosperity, thousands more generations of humans will thanks us.

Indeed,we are already seeing the emergence of systems based on justice, cleverness and with the ecology as the highest order value, the planet could easily accommodate that population peak, as we work to compassionately rein in any further growth. The new, emerging “world order”, based on justice, cleverness and love of nature, will enable an abundant, garden of Eden, rich in value and meaning for every single person and creature.

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With the hands! Things to do to create your Sustainability Street Village. This is the step by step, hands on legwork!

Write a Folksy Note: The success of the very first ever Sustainability Street Village, which spawned the famous Jason, was in no small part due to the handwritten note which Stan and Anna cobbled together, back in 2003. Close to a decade, and still going strong. Ask who would be keen to meet at your place. You just never know who will turn up!

1

Pound the Beat: Keep it very local. Just a few neighbours, friends or family closest to you, a fantastic place to start. Suck it up, leap the shy gap and say g’day. Engage with these people, but unless you’re a dentist … don’t be in their face. Take a bag of veggies from your garden or a choccie frog to gift. Knock on the door! Of course, people knocking on each other’s doors is a no-no these days. Let’s bring back the neighbourliness!

2

Six Steps for Village Building

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The Taster Meeting: The taster is a litmus tests, a poke of the toe in the water! It is an invitation and information gathering to provide some Information about and an Invitation to join together to “create a Sustainability Street Village” …in our neighbourhood. First, prepare the Meeting Space: get the folksy feel right, including some music and a cuppa T. Here’s a sample Running Order For This Meeting:

1) Quick Intro … What is Sustainability Street? 7-9 mins. Max! Speaking notes, a mini powerpoint and numerous other ideas and activities are available on-line.

2) Voice the Audience; Everyone talks! Go round the circle. Why are we here? 15 - 20 mins

3) Show the “Blessed Unrest” film. 6 mins.

4) Workshop who you are and what you want to do together. Any ideas yet?

5) Summarise the Taster Meeting.

6) Nuts and Bolts for next time, including setting up an 18 month ‘training’ program and which of the 3 Areas of Daily Focus first?

7) Planning Group … Hands up, names down. Talk Burn out or Blossom … Share the tasks. Appoint everyone as a “worker ant” with little tasks.

8) Open the floor to discussion. Have a cuppa and a chat.

3 Make a Banner: You may have noticed in this book the effect an SSA banner can have. Put it up at every event you have and if you can’t take a photo, snap a pic.

4

The “Launch” Meeting: Starting the course of learning and Action! Getting Your Sustainability Street Village “officially” on the road. Ask the crew to bring a friend! Promote locally big time! Finish off with a celebratory BBQ or street parade.

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The First Snapshot: put a snapshot of the launch meeting together straight away. It’s not minutes, it’s not a newsletter, it’s … literally … “a snapshot” ... with mostly pictures and few to no words! and circulate to everyone, including local media. Include photos, big ideas, who was there and what the next steps are. When is the next meeting? What’s the topic? Who’s place? Who is bringing a cake? Who can letterbox a flyer?

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Don’t worry if you are not a “street” per se. It’s just a concept. A metaphor for any local group of people. The actual border of a Sustainability Street Village has been defined as being about as far as you’d care to walk to share a cuppa with a neighbour to discuss your worms ...

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Visit www.sustainabilitystreet.org.au often. Stories, ideas, inspiration, case studies from other Sustainability Street Villages around Australia and more details and ideas on the whole SSA concept than you can possibly imagine.

1The SSA nuts and Bolts: Choose a Course of Learning And Action & Model Agendae and set up a calendar. Make sure you build in all eight aspects in this book, like the principles, the Beacons and the Four stages.

2Create a Snapshot Newsletter after each meeting to document and promote the journey. Take and collect photos, stories, agendas, plans, etc. Circulate it widely including to the local media. Share the task each month

3Clouds, Rain, Rivers Oceans: a useful tool to work out where you’re at. Cloud communities are forming and nebulous. They don’t really know each other or sustainability or learning and change. Clouds need to get their heads down and bums up and begin the learning journey together. Rain communities are falling and on the way. Rivers are flowing. They know each other, where they are going and why. Oceans make waves of learning and change out into their communities. This is the holy grail of the SSA. Oceans need less learning and more teaching and sharing.

4

Seven Supporting Ideas

you’re on your way ... check in here often for ideas to boost your journey … and refer to chapter 7 online ... visit the Scenic Route to Sustainability Street.

A Sustainability Street Manifestation ... the local fruit and vegie food swap

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The Communiversity: The ‘Communiversity’ best encapsulates the way in which the SSA manifests the Guide Beside idea. Essentially, we are all teachers and we are all learners and we are going to have to be committed to learning from and teaching each other about our relationship with the Earth for the rest of our lives. At a practical level, at an early stage of the structured training program do an audit of who knows what? There will be somebody who is an expert on chooks, another who understands the looming ‘peak oil’ crisis, there will be a permaculture devotee, a grey water practitioner, a local native (indigenous) plants person, a bicycle repair mechanic, a worm wizz, etc. Get together and sharing everyone’s ideas, energy, commitment and experience. Do a hands up names down and give everyone a “Worker Ant” role based on their skills.

5

Eventful Events: these are a great way to mark progress, celebrate achievements and build community -

a) The Graduation Ceremony - The SSA Graduation Ceremony playfully mimics one of societies rituals or rites of passage. A Graduation says, “We have learned and we are now qualified to do stuff !” The SSA Graduation in and of itself can be a superb event to reach out and influence others. Do it when you feel you’re ready!

b) Have A Street Parade - The first ever Sustainability Street Village, in Coburg, Melbourne, held a low key ‘Pots, Pans and Silly Hats Street Parade’ as a lead up to erecting their SSA Street Sign. This was a great celebration and a terrific outreach to the neighbours. The group had even printed flyers to hand to people who came to the fence to have a look at the merriment.

c) The Small Sustainability Fair: Set up in your local park with simple water, waste and energy info and ideas. Tell everyone! Get the local kinder involved! Ask an expert or two! Ask a local choir to come!

The Ecological Fingerprint: Visit the SSA website and check out the Ecological Fingerprint as a fun, forward looking measuring tool for your journey towards sustainability. The Fingerprint was endorsed by David Suzuki and enables you to plan your path into the future, focussing on water, waste, energy as well as biodiversity and influencing others.

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When residents were asked, “what does it means to you to be part of Sustainability Street, an enhanced sense of belonging and community was most frequently mentioned. Our 40 Sustainability Street households saved a minimum of 187.8 tonnes of carbon dioxide each year.

Willoughby City Council ... 2008

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Biological Diversity is the most precious of nature’s gifts to us. There have been five ‘great extinctions’ in geological history - periods of the Earth’s evolution in which, over millennia (not decades) huge swathes of life-forms, habitats and species disappeared. In the modern epoch, the last few dozen million years or so, the natural rate of extinction had settled to one or two species per century. However, during the 20th Century, the rate of species extinction shot up to as high as one or two per hour! This is unthinkable, unsustainable and unconscionable.

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Spurn doom and gloom. While we must remain very aware of the seriousness and urgency of working for sustainability, staying energised for the lifelong process that it will be, can only result from seeking out the positive. We always hear the bad news, never the increasing number of great news stories! Good news encourages! The great things that people are doing for the Earth, is food for your passion.

2

Imagine the future to be clean, green, and sustainable … prosperous and exciting! We are what we think! It is both a great salve and of actual practical benefit to imagine a clean green future. Actually take time out to visualise this future and talk about it with each other. Be inspired by the inevitability of Sustainability. It is inevitable because the alternative is that there is no alternative. We can either let the future happen or we can shape it, so let’s imagine the shape we want. According to Picasso, if it can be dreamed, it can be real. Einstein said, most poignantly, that imagination is more important than knowledge. Visualising a clean, green, fair, safe and sustainable future is a dynamic personal and whole of culture determining exercise.

3

Eight Principles … to guide your trip down Sustainability Street

Sustainability Street Participants consistently report three big outcomes …

1. Up to 30% improvement in waste, water and energy … often more!

2. Extraordinary local projects ... both environmental and community making.

3. Wonderful new local connections and friendships. A strong basis for building community resilience.

Victorian University Study, 2007

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Avoid the ‘Holier than Thou’ soap box. Really, who wants the finger of another waggling at them while being told what to do? We need to be positive with and supportive of each other. Nobody’s perfect and the vast majority of people have a deep and abiding desire to make sustainability practice a bigger part of their lives. Nobody has all the answers and the degree to which we recognise this and are able to pitch in together to create the ‘we’ culture, is the degree to which it can be. There is no “i” in team but there is a “u” in group. In any case, environmental superiority inevitably leads to Green Herrings and the Sustainability Trivial Pursuit game. These are ‘debates” and “opinions” which, for all their bluster and self importance sort of miss the main point.

4

Practice purposeful Informality: If It Ain’t Fun, It Ain’t Sustainable - In the Sustainability Street Approach, participants engage in ‘purposeful informality’. Sometimes people arrange for live music to be performed before during or after meetings. There are groups who take a break in their proceedings with an ‘Einstein right brain enhancement game’ or an Edward De Bono lateral thinking type game. The fun of joining together as community also derives from the things which used to be part of the Sunday Picnic Fun and the Races back in the old days when you could have a hit of cricket in the street or a play with a ball. There is one Sustainability Street Village that likes to break up its meetings with a bit of folk dancing. That’s all good, good to have a laugh, nobody ever died laughing, but there are two things that are the richest and most memorable fun of all.

a) Being involved, with others in a program to help us protect the future for our friends, our families and ourselves. That is a deep type of satisfaction - deep satisfaction is fun. And...

b) Participation is fun too! Being involved with others and being a part of ‘the ideas pudding’ is just so satisfying. For one to hear one’s suggestions being nodded to in a group, then become part of the mix and then to be a part of working toward bringing the scheme to fruition, is about as good as it gets! So a good old bit of giggle fun is good, and so is the serious fun that derives from the profound satisfaction of “making a difference” (m.a.d.)! Mad fun you might say!

5

Celebrate the increasing number of good news stories; critical fuel for the journey. There are great sustainability initiatives happening every day in the wider world. Actively seek them out!! Above all, remember, the best good news story is your own local achievement. Moreover, your story is powerfully comforting for participants and inspiring to other local people.

6

The William Street Wol-longong Sustainabil-ity Street Group knocked down their back fences to create space for growing food, a chook run, children playing and hanging out.

If we have fun saving the Earth … the Earth will be saved! And make no mistake, the best fu;n a human can have is to “be a part of it”, participating, being heard, being resected and supported.

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Notice and luxuriate in the Enviro•Links The fundamental problem is that we are disconnected from the natural world. This despite the researched fact that experiencing or even thinking about the natural world improves wellbeing, health and performance. Every aspect of our lives and jobs has an impact on the fragile and beautiful planet. Making connections is critical. Re-connecting takes two forms, both highly inspiring and nourishing:

• Action Links - Every action/decision directly touches air, soil, water, species and landforms. Saving energy will also save the Mountain Pygmy Possum whose habitat is threatened by greenhouse pollution and climate change.

• Personal Links - Increase and enhance contact with the natural world. Build an actual relationship with nature, in both feelings and understandings. Which is the biggest tree near you? Did last night’s sunset catch your eye? What phase is the moon in? We should make these mental, emotional and physical connections as often as we can. Take time out of the day to watch the bug or the bird or the wind. Visit the water, feel the air, see the creatures, hear the songs, watch the moon, climb the hill, bounce in the surf, touch the soil, smell the acacia, watch the kangaroo, feel the wind, imagine what the clouds are being today, enjoy the colour, feel the sun on your face ... and do it all again … often!

8

Take baby steps and trust common sense. S’OK to start small and you don’t need a doctoral degree in environment to know what to do. You are the expert because you have common sense. Trust your common sense. We all basically know what pollution and waste looks like. Your gut feeling or instinct will more often than not be spot on. And, the more you get into it the stronger your understanding and clarity will become. There are so many easy wins to be had. Indeed, the UNEP says that the ‘low hanging fruit’ can reward us with a 30% improvement in environmental performance … just through a mind set shift. As Henry Ford said, “You may think you can ... or you may think you can not … either way, you are right!”

7

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The Famous East Keilor Sustainability Street Neighbourhood Garden. Originally designed by Walter Burley Griffin in the 1930s, the homes on this estate were intended to face in to "common ground. By the time the houses were built in the 1960s, modern young local town planners thought it better for the houses to face the street … to watch the cars go by. For decades, Walter's vision lay dormant as a wasteland, rubbish dump and “Saturday night parking" spot. Fast forward to 2004, the E. Keilor Sustainability Street Group Inc., transformed the wasted land into this garden which is now a part of the National Open Garden Scheme.

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... as well as working through the waste, water and energy course of learning and action, the Sustainability Street journey It can be so much more fullfilling and effective than just being about “good environmental behaviour”. The Eight Aspects give the journey a “wholistic”, values defining and life affirming richness. The Eight Aspects have meant so many things like inviting us all to really “buy in” to the things that are important in life ... but which, can never “be bought”, as such.

The SSA.Eight certainly meant that people who stumbled on to our meetings, not knowing what to expect, immediately

felt more connected to us and our journey. “It was just the vibe of the thing”. The main thing for sure is to reduce

waste, water and energy and working through the Eight Facets, sometimes might only need a ten minute focus ... but

eventually, the lessons of the 1 - 8 just become part of our background species being ... as a group, as families and as

individuals. Here are some of the ways we “bought in” to theEight Aspects ...

1. Coming Home, to the Earth; Every two or three meetings we’d re-do the “Being There” exercise. It is so beautiful! Visit Sustainability Street; The Scenic Route, on line, for a description of how to do this wonderful exercise. We planned ahead and organised some fantastic “nature hits”, sometimes with a picnic, to refreshing natural places. It has been just so excellent sharing nature with children! We also had a couple of nature video binge nights! The best of Attenborough. Flannery and Doyle. Someone even found an old Harry Butler tape and even the Leyland Brothers got a look in!

2. Two social bastions ... It is so true. We personally experienced just how powerful and effective a small group of people can be, as a “beacon community”, living role models just doing our thing ... and the whole thing about being more socially connected improving health and feelings is just rue. Ya can feel it! We loved the ideas on the Scenic Route 2 SSA, especially Robert Putnam’s social capital building ideas and activities ...

3. The 3 ADFE; areas of daily focussed effort ... speak for themselves really! Every power switch, rubbish bin, tap and cart key is linked, for better or worse, to the magnificent natural places! It is that simple. So, we went on-line to check our the Sustainhability Street course of learning and action ... and we got speakers in, had waste, water energy reduction competitions and campaigns, went on field trips to see the best in waste water and energy reduction ... like, have you ever been to a MURF? Oooh la la! Soooo exciting!

4. Mulch, Grow, Harvest, Sow! The Four stage ongoing and reiterating Cycle of learning, growth and development. We made a point to check in with the Mulch, Grow, Harvest, Sow, cycle a lot. It is amazing how popular the Celebrating bit became. Harvestin is hip! And even more amazing, just how excellent is celebrating for reaching out, passing on the passion, influencing others and being the “guide beside”.

5. The Five Beacons Or Blockers; This is one we are very proud of ! We created Five Ministries, like the Government has. Basically five groups who would specialise in one of the Beacons, so that when exciting developments came up, and IT IS AMAZING just how often improvement and good news stories surface, al la the Blue Volksie theorum. Each goup would organise among themselves and decide when to share info on one of the Beacons ... al la CommUniversity style

6. Six Steps To Setting Up Our Village ... of course, we’d used these wonderful ideas to set up our own sustainability group! But, the best thing we’ve done with the Six Steps is to offer them as training material for simple workshops we run. People from the other side of town are always asking, so, how’d y’all get started and how come you keep on going from strength to strength, blossoming and not burning out? Easy my dears ... just step these six ways ..

7. The Seven Ongoing Tools are the secret to “blossoming” rather than “burning out” ... especially the Southern Cross of Excitment about the sustainable, prosperous and peaceful future with which, we are now viscerally integrated and living through every day.

8. The Eight Principles of the Sustainability Street Approach are gold! I mean, how good is it to be able to spurn the whole “guilt trip” thing ... or, reject the “doom and gloom” and instead to leap into life affirming action … or, to close our eyes, lie on our backs, put on peaceful, new age hippy music or something from the Baroque era … then get blissfullyt lost in imagining a beautiful, absolutely clean, green and prosperous future … in which our kids are fullfilled and content with their lives, with deep love and respect for nature, surrounded by abundance, right minededness, fascinating eco-sustainable jobs and in partnership with a planet which has a tear of joy and gratitude trickling out of one eye. And, these are just three of the 8 principles, the other five are even more humanising, loving and Earthophillic, guaranteeing abundance and prosperity in our lives.

Notes from one local group about how they “worked” through (wove in?) the Eight Facets of the Sustainability Street Approach.

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After about six months of meeting ... “we reduced” the Eight Aspects to three discussion points. Whenever we were pressed for time, or whatever, we would just touch on these three basic questions. These three points sum up what the Sustainability Street thing is about.

We also kept a record of our answers to these three questions ... and it has become like a very proud trophy of our contribution to shaping a sustainable future ...

Our three guiding questions have been ...

1. Who has had what wonderful, refreshing experiences of nature ... or a new learning about the magnificence of biological diversity and natural history … or seen a video which clebrates the beauty of the natural world ... ?

2. who’s done what to reduce waste, water and energy ... new ideas, old ideas, simple doggedness?

3. Who has influenced whom … directly or indirectly. Even tiny small things. We’ve had examples of people who’ve set up recycling at work, someone who picks up plastic litter in view of the bus stop, folks who now grow vegies on their nature strip ... and of course, the best one was when, as a local group, we organised a Sustainability Street party. Good fun, meeting folks from around the neighbourhod and us giving demos of how we raise our worms, grow our own, lag our pipes, share nature with children, raise chooks, maintain our bikes, car pool, etc ?

So ... howzat ... we simplified the whole, complex challenge for a sustainable future to three things ... enjoy nature, often ...reduce waste and pollution, as creatively as possible … reach out to influence others, with caring and eventfulness.

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In our work to solve the crisis of the ecology … and we will … we are going to need a cocktail of strategies. Some from Government, input from science, ideas from industry and above all, from the SSA perspective, work and leaderfullness from community.

The Sustainability Street Approach (SSA) is our part of that cocktail, formed from a deep love for life and the Earth itself and dedicated to the power of community! The intention of the Sustainability Street Approach (SSA) has always been to make the program “independently” doable, self manageable and uber democratic. Social connectivity and care for the natural world are part of our deep species being. We actually all know how to do and what to do to our respective levels of energy and intent.

The SSA is built on the evidence that so many of we humans are already embracing and enjoying re-learning how to live with the Earth. The Sustainability Street Institute is dedicated to contributing to this tectonic shift in ecologically sustainable culture and economy, which is underway right now. Our passionate belief, and experience, is that local folks who own and control their own local sustainability group, will create a new and relevant diversity of influences on lifestyle and models of behaviour, for others to emulate. Moreover, Sustainability Street people over the last decade report that is is easy peasy lemon squeezy, deeply rewarding and that we get better and better at it. This journey, Shortcut or Scenic route, WILL result in two magnificent outcomes. We are guaranteed that ...

• … the damage to the Earth caused by a miniscule, recent handful of the 10,000+ human generations WILL be healed, & ...

• … our increasing, respectful and loving re-connection with the natural world, in the context of our day to day lives, WILL gift us a deep, exciting, creative and very fulfilling sense of life’s real meaning and reward.

So, the Approach, V 4.1, is laid out in two parts.

i) This booklet “The Shortcut to Sustainability Street; DIO” … comprises the 1 to 8 aspects, or DNA, which enables our local community to design our own Sustainability Street Village. Because, no two communities are the same. The learning and action that best suits you is best designed by you. You can think big, or you can use one of the SSA Learning and Action options ... outlined in the “Scenic Route to Sustainability Street ... to wit,

ii) The Long and Winding Scenic Route to Sustainability Street ... which is found online ... www.sustainabilitystreet.org.au ... and is the catalogue of ten years of Sustainability Street writing.

In a nutshell, the SSA is about … • Shy-busting! Making the connection to other

local people.

• Dynamic Capacity Building, the best education, learning and change catylyser known to humanity

• Deep Sustainability and the resultant local invention and future crafting.

• The CommUniversity, us teaching, learning from and above all, supporting each other!

• A social, open ended, hands on, education driven program of culture and economy redefinition & enrichment.

• The possibilities of, solutions for and excitement about the future!

• As much or as little as you want/are able to make it, at this time in your own life journey.

• The long haul, not burn out! Blossom yes ... burn out no!

• Basic learning through to wildest imaginings. Ideas, comon sense through to crazy!!

• A sustainability Blank Canvas for your community.

The SSA is absolutely NOT …• Spoonfeeding of yet another 101,271 tips and buckets of

“info”!

• Ideological or party political

• Competitive, snarling, egoistic fingerwaggling or self imposed guilt tripping

Background thinking, the pedagogy and a glossary

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s1. One purpose, Coming Home: to the Earth.

2. Two Social Springboards: empathy for each, its benefit for us and the amazing results it can engender.

8. Eight Principles: human scale for reaching ecological sustainability. Hope, help and home.

5. Five Beacons For: (or Blockers To) achieving ecologically sustainability and respect from the Earth.

3. Three areas of Daily Focussed Effort: Waste, water and energy.

4. Four Stages of learning and growth: Mulch, Grow, Harvest Sow; or, Learn, Do, Celebrate, Teach. – Hey, it’s a cycle, just like in nature! Continually “iterating” changing and informing the next stage.

2. Two Social Springboards: bio-rocket fuel for the SSA journey. Re-localisation and the assymetrical power of local people power.

SSA DNA DefiNitioN Which fAcet of the 1-8 experieNtiAl MANifeStAtioNSreSult

listen to the earth day

low waste limbo launch

neighbourhood “stuff”

swap ‘til you drop.

the basic Course of learning and action, if you need it

the eating meeting

being there … again

energy addiction planning

the eating meeting

energy descent planning

the ecological finger print

southern cross of optimism and EXCITEMENT

sharing natuure with children

another eating meeting

the communiversity

each aspect of DS & DCB synergises

with each other aspect … both

across categories and within

SSA S.p.o.D. … Specific poiNtS of DiffereNce

the SSA course of learning and action

talking about re-localisation

listen to the earth day

podcast party

travel the scenic SCENIC route to Sustainability Street, visit

http://www.sustainabilitystreet.org.au/ssi-information/72-the-shortcut-to-sustainability-street-dio

being there party

sharing natuure with children

WaWa ... want and will audit

BEACON VILLAGE ... creating change by simply being

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The Sustainability Street Approach (SSA) is a local, social, passionate, though never prosletysing response to our deep concerns for the Earth. It is not necessarily about “joining” a traditional, campaign, issue focussed group per se, though Of course, we have much to thank action groups for. The Approach’s core aim is to shift culture to make redundant the need for urgent campaigns to save the environment. This is a big call of utopian, whole of society proportions, for sure. But such tectonic change has been done and can be done again.The fun, humour, and passionate accessibility which is built into the SSA, and the invitation to take it, re-model it to suit you and to own it, is captured in much of the “people powering” terminology, as in this glossary. Be the Guide Beside, not the Sage on Stage: Speaks for itself really. We will all get much further collaboratively, together, sharing the load and valuing every idea. Intangibles. The very juice, subtlety and meaning of life. Like the deep, authentic and intangible force behind the joy which makes you “tear up” as you hold your new baby. Things that can never be bought or sold but which are the most valuable in our lives … honesty, friendship, meaning, laugher ... the Sustainability Street Approach is a petrie dish for the intangibles. The CommUniversity: We are all learners and we are all teachers … all the time. Learning from one another is more relevant and effective than book-bound knowledge imposed from the outside. There is just so much we can gain from each other – knowledge, understanding, inspiration, support, insight … and the intangible stuff that no book or enviro-expert could possibly give. Experts should be on tap, not on top! Nothing wrong with guest speakers and learned ones, but, as philosopher Anotole France said in the 19th century ... “do not satisfy your vanity by teaching everything you know ... put there just a spark ... if there is good flammable stuff, it will catch”. The WaWa: … Want And Will Audit. The first session of the classic, eight “meeting” SSA “course of learning and action” includes, importantly, the WaWa, or, the Want And Will Audit. Who wants to know what and who will to teach what? Purposeful Informality: There’s a fine line between a suffocatingly strict meeting agenda that stifles fun and creativity and a democratic free-for-all in which no actual progress can be made. Neither is useful. “Purposeful informality” refers to the art of keeping a meeting on track while also fostering creativity, collaborative and problem-solving approach to the relevant topics. Striking the right balance will leave everyone feeling included and empowered, and will lead to practical, tangible ecological and social results! Beacon Village: It used to be all about “keeping up with the Joneses”, that rampant call to consumerism! Now it’s about keeping up with the Greens! The degree to which we influence each other is actually a powerful phenomenon of our ancient, social humanoid wiring. The fashion industry understands this well. A beacon village is a group of folk who demonstrate on a daily basis that another whole way of living is possible. An Environmentalist: Ya don’t have to to dodge Antarctic harpoons to be an environmentalist. Though, of course, bless the hearts of those wonderful Sea Shepherds who do. But, equally, in our own lives,

every person has the right and the power to help shape a sustainable future, at whatever level suits one’s stage and place in life. And, to proudly consider it just as valid and equal contribution as any other. Sustaina-matazz: Green Glitz pedalled by the sudden rash of hollow marketing folk. Green carpetbaggers selling “good” consumption ... which is consumption nonetheless! A distraction from living and working on culture and values in the good ol’ ‘burbs in which we live. Carpetbaggers who undermine the work of environmental educatrs and set community understanding back decades. Sustainamatazz is the lifeblood of “greenwashers”. Sustainamatazz distracts us from actually working on change to core values. Green beer provides one example, they can now sell you “carbon-neutral” beer that’s been shipped across the world to reach your esky with the message that you’re making a sustainable choice. Think again! It may be better than another brand from Helsinki, but it does nothing to address the fundamental problems of our “consumerist” culture or globalised, resource-intensive commerce. A real alternative would be home brew! The “Human” Year There are lots of types of “years”! The calendar year, the financial year, the horse racing year, which starts on August 1st, the universal equine birthday. The SSA is tuned into the “human year”, which in reality, allows us eight or nine months out of the twelve, that are optimum for changing the world There’s a month or two when threat of frosts is a downer. And then there are the three silly season and sun laden months … end November to early Feb. On the other side of that coin though, there are two or three months when spring springs and “saving the world” can reaceive a huge boost if combined with other delights, such as the emerging barbeque season. The source of the famous SSA “eating meeting”. The Eating Meeting with Drinking Thinking: Our lifelong mission is to live in greater and more fulfilling harmony with nature, in every way. To come home to the earth. Along the way, if it ain’t fun it ain’t sustainable. The eating meeting refers to the notions of “human scale and purposeful informality,”. The eating meeting is often lubricated with “drinking thinking” … be that of green tea, red cordial or nice wine! Another in the genre of the “human year.” Hard Wired To Smile: Smiling’s the best way to make the connections which spawn ideas and sense of purpose. Social connectedness can add ten healthy years to lifespan. We humans have built evolutionary survival for thousand of generations out of connecting and co-operating. Green Herrings: Another type of distraction from authentic ways of shaping the new sustainability culture. The rabid “demonisation” of plastic bags is an example. Sure, cloth bags are better. But, one car trip to the shops equals 15 years worth of the petro-chemicals needed to manufacture the plastic bag you’d use. And sure, we do not want bags in the litter stream! But that is a separate, cultural/educational issue about littering and sense of place. In point of fact, waterways pollution by plastic drink bottles, exceeds bags by a factor of 400 … yet, spotlighting bottles is in the too hardie. Green Herrings are also a tool of the “sustainamatazz,” and “greenwash” merchants who promote “business as usual”, consumption, with green gimmicks and meaningless “get out of green jail” cards. The AlGoreithm; One Part SSA + Nine Parts U = Sustainable Future. SSA provides a template, trainer wheels,

glOSSary, glOSSary, glOSSary

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a ladder, the pump priming handle, a blank canvas. A canvas is just a metre of stretched cloth. The masterpiece upon it is by you ... Deep Sustainability: More than “tips” and just becoming a better-behaved consumer, but consumer none-the-less. Deep Sustainability is comprised of Earth-ophilia, personal and societal values clarification and environmental education & behaviour short-cuts. Fun: “If it ain’t fun it ain’t sustainable.” Possibly the highest order of the intangibles which are the the joy and the juice of our humanity. “If it ain’t fun it ain’t sustainable”. And, the best fun of all, is to express your idea in a group and see your neighbours’ heads nodding! The best fun in the universe is to be working on something relevant and meaningful. The best fun is to control it ourselves. The best fun is to be focussed on building a clean green future for our children. It’s fun to spend time with other like mindeds. It is also fun to sit around and eat, to dance, to walk in the bush, to listen to music or to make music together, to watch a film, to party, to – well you know how to have fun! …. Bring all these very perfect aspects of our humanity to your SSA Village. Entwined: Follows neatly from “if it ain’t fun”… the best fun that can be had is to be valued, feel participatory, in the tribe with others, etc. In the past, change has come from top down … this is what you will do, or bottom up … bless their hearts, the squeakiest wheels which got the most oil. Entwined is about all of us in this together, collaboratively. Embedded (or Embodied) Impact: The New Frontier!! The amount of waste, water and energy locked up in all the “stuff ” of life. Embedded impact equates to as much as 60% of our so-called “footprint,” and amazingly, food is close to 40 % of that 60%. Meat protein requires (consumes, wastes) at least 10 times the amount of land area, energy, water, transport and waste than a comparable amount of vegetable protein, etc, etc. A meat eater who rides a bike has a greater “footprint” than a vegetarian who drives a Hummer. Suzuki suggests that the average dinner plate of food has travelled thousands of kilometers to get to us ... so called “food miles” One in five “bags of shopping” we bring home to eat is discarded, wasted, chucked to landfill .. to become methane, which is 25 times more damaging than CO2. The Berlin Wall Effect - accumulation to Trigger = overnight change! The lives of Nelson Mandela and Rosa Parks offer examples of how simple actions can both embody the accumulated momentum of cultural movements and also spark huge, “domino-effect” changes on their own. Read about the “a-political, a-symetrical and incredibley creative power of “local people power”. Mataphor Street. The word Street, in Sustainability Street, is a metaphor. Such a good Metaphor we call it a metaPhive! “Street” is a metaphor for any place, urge or reason we humans group together. A Sustainability Street Village could emerge from connections over the back fence, through your school or play group, via the workplace or start out as friends using MyFace on the inter-web? A “street” is wherever or however two or three or any number of folks get together the ideas, mutual support, inspiration, action … for social and ecological achievement to unfold. “Daily Earth Decisions”: We each make hundreds of Earth Decisions every week, via the tap, energy switch, rubbish bin or cash register. Each choice connects us to the giant natural systems and exquisite wilderness areas. Every nuance of our lives, for better or worse, is linked to the climate, the soil, antartica, clouds, habitats, etc, etc, etc.

Low Hanging Fruit Tree: The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) research indicates that 30% improvement is “instantly” achievable through “mind set” adjustment. Basically, ‘good housekeeping’ of the easy, cheap ‘Low Hanging Fruit.’ By helping each other to get better and better at sustainable living, every single person, every single day can do something to have less impact on the planet. Recent research from the Dover Institute indicates that we may make an average of up to 73 water use decisions, 66 resource/waste decisions and a whopping 213 energy decisions per 24 hours. Every choice matters! PLUS one: Low hanging fruit every day is great, indeed, even a moral resonsibility. All the little things do add up. But, we do also need to make a bigger decision every so often. A decision which is a bit of a comfort zone rattler! Like, maybe, get rid of the second car? or maybe posponing the holiday to pay for a bit of retrofitting of insulation, draft-proffing or best of all, double glazing. The Canine Excreta Offset Concept – CEOC: It will be inevitable that on one walk with the canine companion. that the bag is forgotten. Shit happens. To compensate, next time you and the best friend are out walking, pick up some other dogs’ errant do-dos. This concept carries over to the whole range of lifestyle choices. The Eight Principles of the Sustainability Street Approach hold that baby steps are fine and that slip-ups are not the end of the world. If laziness kicks in and you drive when you could have walked, the CEOC might mean that you then commit to a week of super short showers, or, even, use public transport for a week! Consumption and Accumulation: Material or Friends?: The last five or six decades has been about consuming and the accumulation of stuff. It’s now time to gather relationships. Relationships … with each other and relationships with the natural world! One placard from the occupy Wall Street event noted ... “some people are so poor that all they have is money”! The Blue Volkswagen Theorem: There’s a story of a bloke whose first car was a blue Volkswagen. Before driving that car, said chappy had never before noticed a single Blue Volksy out there. However, on the first trip from the car yard, every other second car seemed to be a blue Volksy. Over the next days and weeks, the roads were littered with Blue Volksies! It’s a phenomena that holds true for environment and sustainability learning and understanding, from the moment that you’re “game on” you will be astounded at how easily and profusely the answers come rushing toward you! When you are tuned into something, your radar takes over - and, when you’ve decided the sustainable life is for you, you will find wisdom and tips everywhere! Information and insight will fall like manna from the clouds. Suddenly your eyes will be drawn to the sustainable like bees to pollen. The answers are out there, on utility bills, talk radio, newspaper articles, the telly, billboards, barbeque convos ... everywhere! Creeping normalcy: An unhelpful mind-set … of transition to acceptance and survival. More concerned with adapting to climate change rather than to psychologically refusing to accept that mentality and doing all in our power to resist it. A better attitude would be “mad as hell and ain’t gonna take it no more”, then do as much as possible to reverse climate change and habitat loss so there’s no need to prepare for a new, lesser and compromised world … let’s build “social change, not accept “climate change!”. attbn Ian McPhaile. Chalk and Cheese: No two communities are the same. FootPrint Flab: The incredible and (stupid) depth of waste that is

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Dear Reader,

Lastly, the main thing to “know” is that you don’t need the SSA. It’s in us already! Living with greater connection to each other and to nature ... is the deepest purpose and meaning of our humanity.

The Sustainability Street Approach comprises nine aspects … being local, local, local, taking the time, time, time and having fun, fun, fun. The University boffins say that the SSA is transformative rather than transmissive. It’s about taking control and self determination a life changing experience ... instead of a tsunami of information & instructions and living by “the good opinions of others”.

We can be certain that historians will review this time, our time in the course of human history, and they’ll declare it to be the “socially driven turning point” which saved the planet. So, know well that you are not alone. More than 200 other Australian communities have been on the Sustainability Street journey and hundreds of thousands of other communities around the world on similar journeys.

Remember to visit http://www.sustainabilitystreet.org.au often and stay in touch! Let us know what you’re up to. File your stories for others to learn from. Send your results … community and social as well as the environmental triumphs to accomplishments@sustainabilitystreet.org.au. Your stories, feedback and achievements will help fuel your journey and the journey of all the Sustainability Street Villages out there.

So go for it folks. The world needs you ... and the world is your oyster!

Yours,

Sustainability Street Creator

We have installed a solar hot water heater and photo-voltaic cells, built a no-dig vegetable garden, switched to 100 %GreenPower and reduced their carbon footprint by at least 11 tonnes a year. This is also only a begin-ning, but it has inspired us to see what else we can do to bring a deeper understanding of the challenges facing us all, by consolidating the lessons learnt and sharing our new-found understanding.”

Tony and Sally, Willoughby NSW

The last word ... go for it... dance like no-one’s watching ... for the Earth

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“Never doubt that a small group of committed citizens

can change the world. In fact, that is the only way the world

has ever changed.”Margaret Mead