Blog
The State of the Forests and the Recovery Challenge
Our 27th September public meeting at the Balwyn Park Centre was a standing room only event. We welcomed a capacity crowd and listened intently to the three passionate forest defenders; Professor David Lindenmayer from ANU with Sue McKinnon and Aawa White from Kinglake...
Greater Glider Spotlighting Magic at Toolangi Forest
Family forest adventure and Greater Glider spotlighting On Saturday 16th September Lighter Footprints, Boroondara ACF and Kinglake Friends of the Forest hosted our first Family Forest event. It was a most wonderful event. We had over 60 participants ranging in age...
Increase the comfort of your home!
Learn more about being cooler in summer and warmer in winter Lighter Footprints members were delighted to welcome two experienced industry speakers talking about increasing home comfort (and lowering energy bills) through draught proofing and insulation. A big thanks...
Public EV chargers: what’s available in Boroondara Council area (and Stonnington and Whitehorse Councils)
Where can I access a public charger for my EV around Boroondara?
Going all electric at home! Do I need 3-phase and a new switchboard??
Many households and apartments will be well on the way to being ‘all electric’ over the next five to ten years.
Home owners are wondering ‘do I need to go 3-phase? And do I need to upgrade my switchboard’?
Agriculture – on farm and off-farm Climate Action
Success stories and challenges On July 26th Lighter Footprints was delighted to welcome 3 subject matter experts from quite different farming backgrounds, but who all 'live ag' and are working in different ways for climate action and climate resilience. The three...
Reducing your hot water costs
Hot water systems are one of the biggest energy users in the home, accounting for around 21 per cent of total energy use.
This can have a significant impact on household energy bills. One way to keep these costs under control is to install an efficient hot water system such as a heat pump hot water.
Monique Ryan: the First Year
Dr Monique Ryan MP was elected to Parliament on 21 May 2022. She rode a teal wave of optimism for action on climate change, integrity in government and gender equality. A full house at the Balwyn Park Centre came to hear Dr Ryan's reflections on her first year in...
Electrify our homes with Tim Forcey and Dr Genevieve Cowie
On May 24th Lighter Footprints was delighted to welcome home energy expert Tim Forcey and public health physician Dr Genevieve Cowie to our meeting on electrification. The summary below has blue links in bold to the full video presentation chapter points. You can...
The Difference Between Passivhaus (Passive House) and Passive Solar Buildings
Sustainable Architecture: Passivhaus (Passive House) vs Passive Solar Buildings This article relates to alterations, renovations and new builds. It attempts to clarify the differences between the passive solar design and Passivhaus design approaches. Many people...
Energy Efficiency – the basics
Simple steps can make your home warmer in winter, cooler in summer, lower energy costs, reduce dust, vermin, bugs and noise. Draught Proofing What are draughts? Draughts are uncontrolled outside air entering our homes through gaps and holes. They differ from...
In discussion with IPCC authors: Two brilliant recordings
IPCC Webinars Lighter Footprints is pleased to share two recordings of recent webinars on the latest IPCC Synthesis Report and Summary for Policymakers released 20 March 2023. This is perhaps the most important synthesis report in the IPCC cycle because the next one...
Is Your Home Making You Sick?
Making our homes more comfortable and better for our health Replacing gas appliances with electric and making our homes more efficient and comfortable with improve our families health Too many of our homes are too cold in winter, too damp, too hot in summer and have...
Australia and Russia lag the developed world on vehicle fuel standards
Australia must bring in vehicle fuel efficiency standards to 'catch up' We are asking RACV members to pressure RACV and the peak body, AAA Read this blog for pointers on sending a short email or comment to the RACV and the AAA Lack of stringent Fuel Efficiency...
We need real emission reductions, not offsets
What's wrong with land-based offsets? The important Land Gap Report gives a definitive, quantitative ‘no’ to reliance on land-based offsets given that offsets: take up too much land - Cumulative land-based solutions would add up to 1,200 million hectares globally....
Innovate 2023 with Simon Holmes à Court
Annual Energy Update 2023 with Simon Holmes à Court It’s been a momentous year in 2022. In Australia, we are close to fossils/renewables crossover, Victoria’s electricity is now 40% clean, and in the US a Tesla Model 3 is now cheaper to drive away than the...
Can we rely on land-based solutions to offset burning fossil fuels?
Image source and acknowledgement: The Land Gap report The pressure on land in carbon dioxide removal In response to climate change, governments are increasingly relying on land for carbon dioxide removal. This is particularly true in Australia, notorious for its use...
Help make forest protection permanent: Forests Working Group updates
JULY UPDATE Since the Victorian Government announced an end to native forest logging on 1st Jan 2024, our Lighter Footprints Forests Working group has been working hard to understand what this announcement means for Victoria’s forests. Although the announcement was...
Saving forests, Ditching gas
Two major environmental concerns leading up to the November state election for friends and members of Lighter Footprints are stopping logging in Victoria's forests and getting off gas. On Wednesday 28 September, Lighter Footprints welcomed Chris Schuringa, the...
Federal Climate Policy, reactions, some questions and responses
Overview Labor's climate bill passes the lower house Amended by Greens and independents to make 43% by 2030 a floor, not a ceiling, Labor's climate bill passes the lower house, and heads to a Senate inquiry which is due to report by the end of August. The Liberals...
CARBON CREDITS: Dodgy offsets or the real deal?
Photo credit: Jaccob McKay/Unsplash The following is a summary of the Lighter Footprints event "CARBON CREDITS: Dodgy offsets or the real deal?" held on Wednesday 27 July 2022. The recording is available here. Moderator Tim Baxter, Senior Researcher for Climate...
Responses to the Victorian Gas Substitution Roadmap
Summary Although the Victorian Gas Substitution Roadmap (VGSR) creates an expectation that Victoria will move away from fossil gas, the limited measures proposed fall short of what is needed to move Victoria, the heaviest gas-using state, away from gas at a speed that...
Star of the South – Offshore Wind in Victoria
Lighter Footprints: June 29th on Offshore Wind We were fortunate to have Naomi Campbell, the Development Director of Star of the South and Pat Simons, Yes2Renewables Coordinator speaking at our June 29th event on offshore wind. You can listen to our speakers again on...
Offshore Wind
Offshore Wind in Australia Australian Potential The potential for offshore wind is huge. University of Technology, Sydney experts writing in the Conversation state that “Offshore wind projects can provide a win-win-win for Australia: creating jobs for displaced fossil...
Protecting our beautiful, carbon dense Victorian forests
The Bill has passed the Upper House. It was proposed by Mary-Anne Thomas, Minister for Health, (03) 8392 2261 on reception.thomas@minstaff.vic.gov.au or mary-anne.thomas@parliament.vic.gov.au, Electorate Office (03) 5428 2138. With proposed legislation that includes...
Carbon credits and carbon markets
As countries move to decarbonise their economies, companies are trying to offset their emissions by buying carbon credits. You can think of carbon credits as a “permission slip” to emit up to a certain set amount of CO2e that year. Most of today’s interim solutions to...
Congratulations! Campaign highlights for Kooyong, Chisholm and Higgins
Finally a climate election! No-one will forget watching the results on Saturday 21st, glued to the screen, excitement mounting as results trickled, then flooded across the country. As Vote Compass reminds us, the top voting issue in all of our electorate is climate,...
The 2022 Kooyong Candidates Forum
On Wednesday 27 April, a packed hall of around 500 people (plus 200 more on Facebook Live) heard from candidates Dr Peter Lynch (Labor), Mr Piers Mitchem (Greens) and Dr Monique Ryan (Independent) how they would represent the voters of Kooyong with a particular focus...
The Big Switch- Australia’s electric future
Introduction In his book, "The Big Switch- Australia’s electric future", Saul Griffith tells us that he wrote this book because the world has a climate emergency and he, as an innovative engineer, wants passionately to help solve it. Benefits here would include lower...
Climate Change and Action: An Overview
I hope that this op-ed will help readers understand the basics of climate change on planet Earth; the solutions for mitigating it; and inspire their passion for doing so. Background- our wonderful luck and responsibility in being part of Earth’s evolution of life Our...
The health impacts of climate change
Source: Lens, Monash University, "Bushfire smoke, air quality and the risk to your health" Health impacts of climate change are happening everywhere. It is happening now and is getting worse. The World Health Organisation has declared climate change to be one of the...
Climate Change and National Security
While national security may not be the first concern that comes to mind in terms of climate risk, the Australian Security Leaders Climate Group (ASLCG) has significant concerns about the security implications of climate change in Australia and the Asia-Pacific region. Successive Australian governments have underestimated climate risk.
Floods and climate change
The PM, Scott Morrison, declared the recent catastrophic floods a national emergency and called it an unprecedented “1-in-500 year event” that “no-one was predicting.” But was it? Was the government warned? What is the science behind this extreme recent flooding event? What are the chances of it happening again? And how should Australia respond now?
Climate change and food security
The impact of climate change on the food supply is being felt in Australia and around the world. For adaptation and mitigation to be effective throughout the food system, enabling conditions need to be created through policies, markets, institutions and governance. Adaptation is not sustainable without deep cuts to emissions and government leadership.
Superpower 2022 with Simon Holmes à Court
Australia is so well positioned to transition rapidly to clean energy, with vast potential to rapidly clean up our manufacturing and value add clean energy in decarbonised exports. Our energy system is becoming more resilient and distributed, and households are likely...
Solar Advantage
So what are the benefits of using solar power and just how can you get started? This short article will help you with these questions. You can also check out Yarra Energy Foundation's great summary page on solar here, Interested in a clear summary? Watch Peter...
Meet Our Community
Writer Matilda Bowra, photographer Julian Meehan and IT expert Simon Grosser worked to together to create profiles of the Lighter Footprints community members. Many thanks to Matilda, Julian and Simon for putting together the Community Climate Action page which...
Putting on Solar – Lighter Footprints Solar Stories
Rooftop Solar PV is now very affordable, reducing your energy bills and lowering your carbon emissions However, for many people wanting to install solar, they often face difficulty in deciding the type and size of solar rooftop installation or finding a reputable...
Act now or face the consequences
For far too long politicians and voters have avoided taking climate action because it is difficult or because they can leave it to future generations. The “too hard” option is now the only option. Massive change is already taking place. We must take immediate action...
Join the resistance – to gas
The case against Australia's gas expansion 1) The Australian government is banking on a tax payer funded 'gas-fired recovery' The government has put its 5 Basin gas-fired recovery plan as central to its economic vision for exports, ignoring industry forecasts and...
Gas-fired recovery facts
Gas is a dirty fuel, and a gas-fired recovery won’t lower prices or bring new jobs. Instead of throwing potentially “billions” of public funds at an industry in deep distress we could transition straight through to large scale renewables, and free up gas for industry by saving money with electric heating and cooling.
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Reducing Australia’s Emissions: The Dirty Dozen Campaign and The Safeguard Mechanism
An informative and enjoyable event On Wednesday 26 April, Lighter Footprints hosted an informative meeting on Reducing Australia's Emissions in Kew, Melbourne. It was good to meet face-to-face over drinks and nibbles and to be updated on the Dirty Dozen campaign and...
New Safeguard Mechanism legislation – winds of change in a sunny country
Heavy emitters to be pulled into line: Back in January this year, with the Federal Coalition dealing themselves out of negotiations, with the fossil fuel industries ramping up pressure that 'we need to develop more gas', and with conservative media outlets criticizing...
Safeguard our climate – heavy emitters must pull their weight
The upcoming Safeguard Mechanism could drive real emissions reduction, but as it stands it risks letting Australia's biggest polluters off the hook through purchasing unlimited dodgy offsets. Image: Open cut coal mine - Hunter. Photo by Jeremy Buckingham/Flickr...
Report on the Hawthorn and Kew State Candidate Forums
Democracy in action The two recent candidate forums organised by Lighter Footprints in the Victorian electorates of Hawthorn and Kew were fine demonstrations of democracy in action. Voter appreciation was evident in the near-capacity attendance. Candidates had their...
Lily D’Ambrosio, Energy Minister (Vic) – massive commitment to climate and renewables if re-elected
Photo credit: Minister for Energy, Environment and Climate Change, Lily D’Ambrosio speaks to media during an announcement at PowerPlus Energy, in Melbourne, Friday, October 21, 2022. (AAP Image/Diego Fedele) NO ARCHIVING Summary The Climate and Energy Minister,...