Blog
New Councils in Boroondara and Whitehorse
A challenging time to hold elections Now that we know what our local councils are going to look like after the recent local government elections, it is time to start considering how we work with them on the matters that are important to us. But first, let’s...
Want to write a letter to the editor? Here’s how!
Why write letters to newspapers? Letters to the editor are very popular with readers. A well written letter has the potential to change the view of thousands. Politicians take notice of letters and assign daily reading as a task to staff. Some letters like this one...
The Feds are cooking the books on Paris
Not on track. Not "in a canter". In November 2016, the Australian Government officially ratified the Paris Climate Agreement. But in the lead-up to the last Federal election in 2019, the Morrison Government began a misleading campaign that Australia is 'on track' to...
Hot Mess – a Radio National series on climate change
This is an excellent four-part series presented by Radio National's Richard Aedy on Climate Change Each heading below is a link to the RN episode page. Highly recommended. Another excellent RN climate change series is the talk by Swedish climate scientist Johan...
The Fight for our Forests continues
Forests store amazing amounts of carbon The amount of carbon stored in the world's forests is more than the carbon stored in fossil fuel reserves and more than the total carbon added to the atmosphere as a consequence of human activities in the last 150 years. In the...
Drawdown
What if we took out more greenhouse gases than we put into the atmosphere? This hypothetical scenario, known as "drawdown," is our only hope of averting climate disaster, says strategist Chad Frischmann. Learn more about drawdown "Global warming is one of the most...
Johan Rockström – the state of the planet and what we need to do
A brilliant talk: If you only listen to one talk about climate change, this should be it. Johan Rockström is a distinguished and awarded global environmental scientist and a diligent debater of climate issues. He has been appointed “The most powerful environmental...
Five Common Myths about Climate Change
We all know people who don't believe climate change is a problem. And we all sit somewhere on this scale. The purpose of this blog is to help counter some of the myths that are believed by people who are positioned towards the lower (right) end of the scale. Those who...
Why we are opposed to a “gas-fired recovery”
Gasfield south of Chinchilla, Qld. Background The Morrison government established the National Covid-19 Coordination Commission to provide a business perspective to Government on Australia’s economic recovery. There were concerns about member connections to the fossil...
Boroondara Council Elections 2020
Thank you to everyone who came along to our massive forum event! Over 300 Lighter Footprints supporters packed in to hear from candidates in the upcoming Boroondara council elections, as well as a rousing welcome from ABC star Craig Reucassel. You can watch a...
Boroondara Candidates Forum
Coming event September 30th Boroondara Council Candidates Forum Boroondara Council elections are happening in October. Often we know little about our Council candidates. To help you make an informed vote we are inviting all Council candidates to attend this forum so...
The fight for our forests
Coming event 28 Oct 2020 RSVP here to find out more about protecting our forests BREAKING 1: VicForests has lodged an appeal VicForests has lodged an appeal and is seeking to overturn Justice Mortimer’s ruling in the recent landmark Federal Court case protecting 66...
Hannah Snape, Cr Amanda Stone, Cr Tina Liu and Cr Prue Cutts – Councils stepping up on climate
Overview Last Wednesday we welcomed a terrific panel to discuss climate solutions at a local government level. What are some best-practice programs and actions being implemented right now in Australia, and what are some of Boroondara City’s neighbors doing? This is...
Proposed AGL Gas project at Crib Point in Westernport Bay: Our submissions
Example of an LNG tanker ship next to a floating storage and regasification unit (FSRU). Both are approximately 300 metres long Lighter Footprints joined Environment Victoria, Save Westernport Bay and other organisations to protest against the proposed AGL Gas Import...
Lidia Thorpe: an Indigenous perspective on climate
For those who missed out, you can relive the night via a recording on our YouTube channel. We will not go back to normal. Normal never was. Our pre-corona existence was not normal, other than we normalised greed, inequity, exhaustion, depletion, extraction,...
Councils and climate action: what are Boroondara’s neighbours doing?
Boroondara Climate Action Plan Consultation - Complete the Survey Now! The City of Boroondara is developing a new Climate Action Plan that will guide Council's climate action over the next ten years. The first phase of community consultation on Boroondara's Climate...
Indigenous Australians and the climate movement – join us Wednesday 29 July!
Join us on Wednesday 29 July for what’s sure to be an engaging evening with Lidia Thorpe. Lidia is a long-time Indigenous rights champion, former MP for the Victorian state seat of Northcote and is soon headed to Canberra as Victoria’s newest Senator, representing the...
Why Snowy 2.0 doesn’t stack up
The contents of this blog are based upon a paper prepared by the National Parks Association of NSW, a Climate Action Network Australia (CANA) ‘brown bag lunch’ webinar on 25 June and a piece in The Conversation. The 1-hour CANA webinar can be viewed here. There were a...
Sue Dwyer, Katherine Barraclough and Mike McEvoy – Communications success
Last Wednesday eighty Lighter Footprints Zoom-ers were joined by three terrific speakers to discuss effective climate communications. Climate Conversations First we heard from Mike McEvoy, Program Manager at Climate for Change (C4C). C4C’s Climate Conversations...
Anna Skarbek – Decarbonisation Futures
ClimateWorks Last Wednesday we were joined by ClimateWorks CEO Anna Skarbek. Her organisation has spent two years carefully plotting out updated paths to economy-wide decarbonisation in Australia, and Lighter Footprints members were lucky enough to get a breakdown of...
Simon Holmes à Court – Building the Recovery
BUILDING THE RECOVERY ( ‘A new and better normal’) An hour with Simon Holmes à Court 13th May 2020 Simon’s special insights into Energy and Climate returned to Lighter Footprints with a review of the opportunities for a renewables based recovery from the pandemic. He...
‘Must see’ film to inspire what the future could look like – 2040
If you missed the film 2040 you are not alone. But if you care about climate change then you must see it. If you have teenagers or know teenagers or young adults who are anxious about their climate future, then this is a 'must see'. My family, the Nolan family, had a...
Climate, the Financial Sector and Shareholder Action – Market Forces
On Wednesday 29 April at 7:30 pm we welcomed Pablo Brait and Rachel Deans from Market Forces. This is a report of the meeting. Pablo Brait It is necessary to align your finances with your values. Many money-managing organisations still invest in the fossil fuel (FF)...
Market Forces Wednesday 29th
We welcomed Rachel and Pablo from Market Forces on Wednesday 29 April to learn more about how working the financial sector can reduce emissions and shift global capital for a safer climate. You can upload the presentation slides here, and listen to the Facebook Live...
Unpublished Letters – April Edition
Lighter Footprints has a talented pool of committed letter writers. Some very good letters go unpublished. This is the first in a series of selected unpublished letters from the group that we believe will be of interest.