Ideas that Inspire
- Local Champions
- The Earth Charter
- Transition Towns
- UNESCO’s Teaching and Learning for a Sustainable Future
- Reading List
- Your Suggestion
Local Champions
The following inspirational examples of local Kiama Municipality residents were originally compiled as part of the Sustainable Illawarra project in 2008-2010. Back then they were ‘Super Challengers’, setting sustainability goals and networking with other super challengers to get ideas and pass on knowledge. These local champions’ stories are being preserved as part of Kiamasphere to inspire more local people to undertake setting goals to work towards a more sustainable lifestyle.
The Loxley Family, Werri Beach
Adam & Heidi have been busy. Making the move from Sydney, both work full-time, fixing up a run down house, raising 2 young daughters. So far Adam & Heidi have 3 chickens and built a little pen for them, have built 3 vegetable gardens, have their compost up and running, installed ceiling insulation and replaced all the light globes with energy saving ones.
Adam & Heidi are doing much more driving now than when they lived in Sydney – so to compensate for this, they have bought a more efficient car. They try to remember to use their green bags and have been more smart with their shopping, opting for durable, long lasting products over the cheap, poor quality ones.
Their next goal is to concentrate on implementing water saving systems. Having a water tank installed, investigating the best grey water system for them, looking into solar hot water and buying a dual flush toilet.
Kate & Terry Wakeham, Kiama
Both Terry & Kate’s parents & grandparents had small farms with huge vegetable gardens, so they both have grown up where there was always fresh food available and everything was composted. After attending a composting and bokashi workshop, they decided the best way to be able to recycle all their food waste was to start up both a bokashi and a worm farm system. With the elimination of food being put in the red top garbage bin, they now only need to put it out for collection once a month!
With the help from the Sustainable Illawarra project, the couple was able to plant a lime, nectarine and mandarin tree and fertilise them with good quality compost and worm castings delivered straight to their door to get them started. Kate is now growing vegetables from seed and having great results!
The couple has also recently had a solar hot water system installed! They are now looking into getting a rain water tank, researching tank options and what would be best for them. On top of their goals, Terry and Kate have also changed to low voltage lights, use a wood fire for heating and brew their own beer.
Cinzia & Paul White, Gerringong
Being a part of the Sustainable Illawarra project as helped Cinzia & Paul to get motivated and educated to put many things that they have been thinking about and wanting to do for some time into action.
By attending the composting and no-dig gardening workshops, Cinzia & Paul have now set up a thriving no-dig vegetable garden, composting systems and a bokashi bucket! After attending a recycling workshop, they realized they had been throwing things away that they did not know could be recycled. With the couple now recycling all their food scraps and now aware of how much actually can go in their recycle bin, their garbage bin is only about ¼ full each week!
The couple has also recently changed all their lights to energy savers and also purchased an heat pump hot water system. These systems significantly reduce electrical consumption and no solar panel is needed. Although they have not yet received an energy bill to identify how much energy has been saved, they are taking the right steps in making their home more sustainable. Some simple actions they have taken also include turning appliances off at the wall rather than leaving them on standby, have reusable fruit and vegetable bags and a boot full of reusable grocery bags.
John Burgess, Gerringong
John has always been an avid gardener and has always enjoyed a healthy intake of fish and crustaceans, so he decided to combine the two. John is leading the way using aquaponics, combining the best of both worlds: hydroponics and aquaculture. He raises fish in one area and the plants in another. The two work together to treat bacteria and produce fertilizer. End product is flourishing vegetables and multiplying happy, healthy rainbow trout, silver perch, yabbies and freshwater mussels.
John also aims over the next 12 months to raise awareness of aquaponics as a means of backyard food production to as many people as possible.
John has replaced all his old light bulbs with compact fluros and hopes to replace the current instantaneous hot water system with either the installation of an “offpeak” meter or a solar hot water system. Another one of John’s goals is to insulate the roof and harvest rain water.
Lenice Laverty, Kiama Downs
Lenice is aiming to learn more about sustainability. She has attended a Bokashi workshop, and went away to practice what she had learnt. The rest of their food scraps go to her sisters chickens so they have very minimal waste leave their home. Lenice is conscious about the amount of rubbish that goes to landfill and is an avid recycler – this is really an example of practicing what she preaches!
The couple have become mindful of how easy it is to have long showers since they started to use their timer. They also collect water and use a watering can for the garden.
Through the Sustainable Illawarra project they got a couple of fruit trees and bushes and have really enjoyed watching them grow! Andrew is a vegetarian, so they purchase very little meat. Lenice uses eco shampoo and conditioner, and even the bottle is made from plant products!
Since participating in the Sustainable Illawarra Super Challenge, the couple have become more conscious of their energy usage, changed their lights to energy efficient lights, and put a “Ecoswitch” on their computer, allowing it to turn power off when not in use and at the click of a button opens right back up on current page.
The Healy Family
Phillip & Diane have already introduced many sustainable goals over the past couple of years including solar hot water and also had a water tank connected to the washing machine. The Healy family are still aiming high to implement more sustainable practices in to their daily lives.
They have purchased a Toyota Prius – an electric car which runs on about 4L/100km. They have also started a worm farm to recycle their organic waste and purchased a high energy star rated fridge.
Phillip and Diane are looking to have insulation installed to decrease their energy use and costs, as it is hard to heat up a big house. They conduct their own energy audits around the home and from this have reduced their consumption from 17kwh/day to 9kwh/day. Whilst renovating their home, they have sourced a lot of reused materials such as timber, doors, windows and even roof tiles from their current home and also from other houses!
Merdith Spence, Kiama
Meredith has already successfully completed more than half of her goals for the year – and has more to come. The fruit & vegetable garden is well on the way! She has planted potatoes, strawberries and fruit trees with her vouchers from the Sustainable Illawarra project, all in portable pots in case she moves. Knowing where her fruit and vegetables are coming from and what has been put on them was itself a great incentive for Meredith to start a food garden.
Meredith likes to encourage and educate friends and colleagues (without preaching) on how to make choices that are better for the environment. When shopping, Meredith always uses baskets over plastic bags and checks if packaging on purchased goods is from recycled materials. She drives a diesel car and made that choice for environmental reasons.
Meredith’s landlord has had the house insulated and replaced the windows as the old ones were old and rotted and would let the cold air in during winter. Meredith is still aiming to improve her water usage around the home by recycling washing machine water, fitting water savers to all taps and finding a way to collect rain water. On top of all this, Meredith has also set up her compost bin in her backyard to be able to use the finished compost on her fruit trees and vegetable garden.
The Woollett Family
Terese and Ricky Woollett live with their three young children in Kiama Downs, and are a great inspiration for us all to get out in the garden and grow some food! As part of their Super Challenge the Woolletts are keen to convert more of their lawn into a wonderfully productive space by planting more fruit trees. They’ve planted a range of fruit trees including banana, papaya, mango, fig, coffee and mulberry, and really enjoy being able to teach their children where their food comes from. The Woollett family is also keen to further support sustainable food choices by buying local produce and certified fair trade products – for more ideas on sustainable food choices, visit our sustainable food page here.
The Collins family
Darren and Megan Collins and their three young girls, have eagerly embraced their Super Challenge goals of using less water and electricity, and producing lots of food from their organic garden.
This inspiring Kiama family has been busily planting fruit trees and re-invigorating the veggie garden, installing a solar hot water system and much, much more. As well as achieving their own sustainability goals, the Collins are helping residents across the region work towards their own goals by generously sharing their knowledge and experiences. They even starred in an article about lunar gardening in the Illawarra Mercury on Wednesday 18th March! To find out more about the Collins Super Challenge journey, visit http://green-change.com.
The Earth Charter
The Earth Charter www.earthcharterinaction.org/content/ is a declaration of fundamental principles for building a just, sustainable, and peaceful global society for the 21st century. Created by global civil society, endorsed by thousands of organisations and institutions, the Charter is not only a call to action, but a motivating force inspiring change the world over.
Download the Earth Charter [PDF, 73kb]
Transition Towns
www.transitionculture.org
www.transitionsydney.org.au
www.seac.net.au
This is beautiful – and you’re about to hear a lot more about it. Communities all over the world are getting together to plan their own response to climate change and a future without oil. It’s all about ‘energy descent futures’ – oh yes, it’ll make you think!
UNESCO’s Teaching and Learning for a Sustainable Future
www.unesco.org/education/tlsf
Do you need facts and figures? Are you a teacher? Would you like to take a short course in sustainability? This is for you…work through the modules for an amazing journey through the history – and future – of sustainability on Earth.
Reading List
Australia has been a pioneer of sustainable living for decades, and there are some very good publications which celebrate and share the achievements of those in pursuit of the ‘good life’.
These are some of the magazines which inspire us, many of which are available at your local library:
- Renew (www.ata.org.au/publications/renew) is published by the Alternative Technology Association (www.ata.org.au/about-us ), one of the leading sustainable technology organisations in the world. The magazine is a wonderful source of accurate information, as is the ATA website
- Published by the ABC, Organic Gardener Magazine (www.abc.net.au/gardening/features/organic_gardener.htm) is essential reading for all keen gardeners. Even if you’ve never picked up a trowel in your life, this magazine will inspire you to have a go at growing something beautiful, delicious – or both!
- Earth Garden (www.earthgarden.com.au) has been celebrating ‘alternative lifestyles’ for nearly 40 years. An amazing treasure trove of DIY projects, traditional crafts, and special publications awaits you!
Your Suggestion
Got an Idea that Inspires? Drop us a line at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or contact us here.
