Blog
Lighter Footprints at Kew Festival
Our active team of stall volunteers were busy again at the Kew Festival on Saturday 24 March, this time accompanied by a large thermometer and inflatable globe to highlight the issue of dangerous global warming. We collected letters addressed to State Premier Ted...
Ashburton Community Festival stall
With a hot northerly blowing and temperatures in the mid-thirties, Lighter Footprints was out and about on Sunday 26 February spreading the message about climate change at the Ashburton Community Festival. This followed a similar effort at the Sustainable Living...
End of year Lighter Footprints dinner
Thirty of us had a great dinner together on Wednesday night December 7th. A highlight was the range of comments made as we went round the room sharing what had stuck with us as memorable from the past year of working with Lighter Footprints. Here are the comments made...
Lighter Footprints joins CANA
CANA (Climate Action Network Australia) is a network of over 70 Australia non-government groups working for action on climate change. It is the Australian arm of Climate Action Network International. In November this year CANA approved Lighter Footprints as a member,...
HRL Court Challenge
Several of us attended the demonstration outside the high Court in King St this week in support of the case being run by Environment Victoria and others challenging the EPA's support for the new HRL coal fired/gasfired power station Below is the EV email on the event...
Say Yes Earth Relay
Over the coming few weeks, as the price on pollution is debated in Parliament, Victorian communities will come together to take part in the Earth Relay - a series of actions to symbolise support for action on climate change. Like the passage of the Olympic flame to...
Climate Change in the Pacific Islands
The Oxfam Photographic Exhibition of the Pacific Islands was launched at Q.P.O. in Kew, Victoria Australia on September 14. Named 'Land is Life,' the exhibition contains photos taken by Rodney Dekker of Tuvalu and Kirabati. It was MC'ed by Carolyn Ingvarson of Lighter...
Moving to clean energy options for reliable power
Lighter Footprints Forum August 2011 Can we live well without coal? Can renewable energy provide continuous, reliable power? Can we escape our dependence on carbon polluting fossil fuels? Is it nuclear or nothing? Watch the three speakers on these issues at the...
Public Forum: Sustainable suburbia
Lighter Footprints Forum Sustainable suburbia – what do we need to do? Time: Thursday 28 April 2011 Venue: Holy Trinity Church Hall, corner Union Road and Montrose Street, Surrey Hills Purpose The forum discussed how we can create sustainable suburbs and take...
“Meet the candidates” Community Climate Forum for the Federal election 2010
What: “Meet the candidates” Community Climate Forum for the Federal election 2010 When: Wednesday 28 July @ 7.00pm Where: Chandelier room, Hawthorn town hall, 360 Burwood Rd, Hawthorn Who: Candidates for Kooyong and a senator from each major party Entry: $5 donation....
Report clears “climategate” scientists
There have been a few blog posts about the report by Sir Muir Russell into the so-called "climategate" affair. (This controversy has gone over the horizon somewhat; it all happened last November when email messages that were hacked into from the university computer...
Ready to try doorknocking on climate change?
Lighter Footprints is organising a Doorknocking Day in Boroondara this Sunday 6th June from 2-5pm. This is an easy and fun way to talk to people in your community about climate change and the opportunities for action. We will also be promoting our upcoming Meet the...
Ethanol Without The Guilt? Nation’s First ‘Trashanol’ Plant Opens In Iowa
Excerpt from this Care2 blog post: "In a converted corn ethanol plant 25 minutes from Cedar Rapids, four-story tanks of renewable fuel are quietly bubbling away ready for conversion into fuel-grade ethanol. What makes this batch of fuel special is its main ingredient:...
Living in denial: Why sensible people reject the truth
A lengthy but rewarding article from The New Scientist about the emotional basis for denialism. Why do people deny climate change? According to the author, "denial is largely a product of the way normal people think. Most denialists are simply ordinary people doing...
Public Forum 2010: Rewrite the Future, Climate Conversations
Lighter Footprints Forum Rewrite the Future: Climate Communities 2010 18 February 2010, Hawthorn Town Hall, Burwood Road, Hawthorn. Has the political debate left you unsure about climate change? About your role in responding to it? Do we have the solutions needed?...
A Safe Climate Bill for Victoria
Lighter Footprints are involved in a collaborative project with Friends of the Earth (Melbourne) and Greenleap Strategic Institute to develop a Safe Climate Bill for Victoria. The project aims to develop a draft Bill that, if implemented, would establish Victoria’s...
Rewrite the Future: Climate Conversations
Has the political debate left you unsure about climate change? About your role in responding to it? Do we have the solutions needed? How can we make the necessary changes? Hear from respected climate scientist David Karoly and other experts, then join local residents...
Historic Clean Air Act petition
The Center for Biological Diversity and 350.org filed an historic Clean Air Act petition with the EPA today asking the agency to scientifically determine the safe atmospheric CO2 level, just as its does with six other pollutants judged to endanger to human health and...
November 2009 highlights
Past climate anomalies explained Lead paragraphs from the BBC story: "Unusually warm and cold periods in Earth's pre-industrial climate history are linked to how the oceans responded to temperature changes, say scientists. The researchers focused particularly on...
Walk against warming 2009
Walk Against Warming 12pm Saturday 12 December State Library, Swanston Street Walk Against Warming is Australia's biggest day of community action on climate change. The Melbourne event will begin at 12pm, Saturday 12 December at the State Library, Swanston Street. As...
Run for a Safe Climate
Run for a Safe Climate 2pm Sunday 29 November St Kilda Sea Baths, St Kilda Run for a Safe Climate is a 6000 Kms run, from Cooktown to Melbourne. Twenty-five emergency workers, policemen and fireman, are running to raise awareness of the need for a strong government...
Deniers and ‘debate’
An extract from George Monbiot, relevant to Australia in that he's on Plimer's case . . . "Creationists and climate change deniers have this in common: they don’t answer their critics. They make what they say are definitive refutations of the science. When these...
2009 A.V.G. Lecture – Dr Paul Sinclair
Please see the below flyer for Camberwell High School's event "Our Environment - Time to Act Now!" To be held at 7.30pm in the Sssembly Hall on Wed 2 September 2009. Pls RSVP to 9836 0555 by Mon 24 Aug.
August 2009 highlights
How psychology can help the planet stay cool A perennial problem faced by people trying to promote environmental issues is how not to bamboozle people with environmental scare stories, thus bringing about a state of apathy because it's too late to do anything! The...
July 2009 highlights
Slamming the climate skeptic scame Post from Jim Hoggan's blog explaining climate change scepticism in the context of public relations. The PR practitioner's task is to move the public perception in the desired direction, i.e. one that is more favourable to the...