James Norman's Blog

In May 2018, I was scrolling through prospective dates on Bumble when I saw Charlie’s profile. I could tell we had a lot of immediate connections. He had worked for human rights organisations, travelled a lot and even had interesting profile pictures. I swiped right.

Later that day, we met at a small bar close to my work in Melbourne for a drink. Even though it was a good first date, I decided I didn’t have the energy for more dates straight away and cancelled our second one. I think he thought I was a bit of a time waster.

A month later, I was visiting family in Perth and my mum asked if I was seeing anyone. I expressed frustration that it’s so hard to sort through all the garbage on dating apps – but there was one guy I’d met who seemed lovely and had a beautiful smile. So when I got back to Melbourne we met again for dumplings, and it was on.

After just six months together we moved into his one-bedroom bachelor pad. That was a massive mistake. We did it way too fast and immediately started squabbling. It was just too soon for two very independent people who had spent a lot of time building up their own lives to be suddenly trying to mesh them together.

By March 2020, our bickering was at an all-time high. We decided to see a couples counsellor before going on a one-month trip to South America – we didn’t want to ruin the trip for ourselves. I remember immediately disliking the counsellor, which I think was more about what she revealed about us. At the end of the first session she just looked at us and said she didn’t think she could help because we were too far apart as individuals for things to work out. We were like, that’s really bad!

Before we left Australia we’d heard murmurings about this new virus emerging but we were feeling smug that we were escaping. After five incredible days hiking across Patagonia, we found ourselves bunkering down in a small hotel room in Punta Arenas as the news of Covid spread across the world.

Flights were cancelled, borders were closing, we had desperate messages from friends and family. We were freaking out. It went from a complete state of relaxation and wonder at the world to OMFG the world is melting down.

Charlie was way more relaxed about it than me. He was like, we’ll be OK. It just wasn’t in his realm of possibility that we wouldn’t get home. So while I was contacting embassies, trying to change flights and reaching out to friends and family to figure out our way home, Charlie was happily imagining our new life in Chile. “Babe, imagine how good we’ll get at Spanish,” he said. A line I’ll always remember.

In the hotel room in Punta Arenas I knew that if the world was ending, as it felt like it was, it was him I wanted to be next to. Charlie was making us go on walks, making up songs and cracking jokes the whole time. He was bringing me out of my anxiety loop. We balanced each other out perfectly in that crisis, on opposite ends of the scale.

Eventually, we got seats on one of the last flights back from Chile before the borders closed. We were waiting on standby at the airport, and we only got seats on the flight because two temporary residents were booted off when the rules changed and only permanent residents could get back into Australia. It really was the most bonkers time.

Charlie proposed in July 2020 and we eloped in December 2020. I thought our time in Chile was going to be the worst thing we would go through – but we have faced many difficulties together since then.

Through it all, I’m always so grateful to have him by my side. We never went back to that couples counsellor.

This column first published in the Guardian

It remains one of the biggest questions facing environmentally conscious consumers: how to stop the seemingly endless stream of soft plastics entering our daily lives?

And, with the news that 94% of soft plastics are still ending up in landfill in Australia, the question is more pertinent than ever.

Australia joined more than 100 countries pushing for a global plastics treaty to reduce pollution during the lifecycle of plastics products. But global progress appears to have stalled.

So what can households and individuals do to reduce soft plastic waste in the meantime?

Getting industry to take responsibility

Last week the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission announced its support for a new industry-led scheme to collect and recycle soft plastic packaging from consumers, backed by major supermarkets and food giants including Mars and Nestlé, in an attempt to replace REDcycle which collapsed in 2022.

A spokesperson from the Australian Packaging Covenant Organisation (APCO), the organisation charged with leading the development of a circular economy for packaging in Australia, says the new scheme has merit because it encourages better practices by making producers financially responsible for their products’ environmental impacts.

“A national Extended Producer Responsibility scheme in Australia would shift responsibility for the end-of-life management of products (like packaging) from governments and consumers to producers,” the spokesperson says.

Tara Jones, plastics and packaging program manager at the Australian Marine Conservation Society (AMCS), says while the new scheme is welcome, recycling alone won’t solve the problem.

“Data from around the world tells us the more plastic that gets produced, the more plastic ends up polluting our environment.”

What can households do?

When it comes to limiting the scourge of soft plastics in our everyday lives, the age-old mantra of reduce, reuse and recycle still holds true – reducing the amount of plastics we use, reusing plastic bags where possible and recycling as best we can.

Birte Moliere, packaging product stewardship lead for the Boomerang Alliance, says consumers need to reimagine their relationship with packaging, as we won’t be able to recycle our way out of the huge amount of plastic packaging currently being produced. That means more support for reuse and refill nationally.

“We strongly encourage consumers to purchase items without single-use plastic. Australia is still the second largest per capita consumer of single-use plastics in the world, our per capita use is excessive, with much packaging completely unnecessary,” she says.

“Consider alternatives to plastic, such as reusable glass containers for food takeaways or beeswax paper instead of cling wrap,” the APCO spokesperson says.

“Think about opportunities to re-use existing plastic, rather than using new. For example, if you have used a plastic bag for your shopping, take this with you next time instead of buying a new one, or the reuse of plastic takeout containers.”

Where plastic is unavoidable, Australasian Recycling Label offers advice and maps about where to find soft plastic recycling programs. Some local councils now accept soft plastic drop-off at recycling locations, while others are offering kerbside collection. Selected supermarkets are trialling in-store collection.

Consumers can keep the pressure on

While supermarkets have been making changes in recent years, such as no longer offering free plastic bags at the checkout, they are still blocking real progress to eliminate plastic packaging.

According to a 2024 supermarket audit conducted in partnership with AMCS, Australia’s major supermarkets refuse to disclose how much plastic they are responsible for, while effectively penalising shoppers trying to avoid plastic bags, with loose fruit and vegetables more expensive than their plastic wrapped counterparts in 73% of cases.

“As individuals, we can take action by avoiding single-use packaging where possible, such as buying produce loose and using reusable containers and bags, but often we don’t have the choice,” says Jones from AMCS. “Many grocery items at the big supermarkets aren’t available without unnecessary plastic packaging.”

While supermarkets continue to prioritise recycling over the removal of plastic and stop short of providing plastic alternatives to many products on their shelves, Jones says one of the best actions we can do as individual consumers is keep up the pressure on supermarkets to drop their plastics addiction.

“Businesses need to take accountability and reduce plastic pollution at the source by eliminating problematic, unnecessary and excessive plastic packaging.”

This column first published in the Guardian

Jacqueline Mifsud remembers the moment in 2023 when she made what she now describes as a “bold life decision” to step out of the rental market in favour of house- and pet-sitting. Since then she has become a full-time house- and cat-sitter in more than a dozen homes around Melbourne, including several return sits.

“Basically everything I own fits into my 1997 Toyota Starlet,” she says. “I look for long sits – at least two weeks – so I can keep my routine and not feel as though I’m starting again every sit.”

The freelance graphics operator and standup comedian is one of a growing number of people relying on house- and pet-sitting as a means to save money in an increasingly tough property market – often while saving up for their own home deposits.

Although house-sitting is often promoted as a way to travel cheaply, the leading pet-sitting platform TrustedHousesitters reports an increase in domestic pet-sitting in Australia, with data showing 75% of Australian house-sits through the platform are being done by sitters within their own cities. A spokesperson from the site Aussie House Sitters confirmed that most are performed in the sitters’ local area, usually to save money or out of housing insecurity.

Mifsud’s experiences in the Australian real estate market are common. After bouncing between increasingly toxic sharehouses in Melbourne’s inner north for two decades, in 2021 she finally landed her own apartment in Preston for $345 a week. But, as the Covid slowdown dissipated, the agent informed her of a 30% rent increase to $450 a week – way outside her budget. Despite arguing that the apartment was in urgent need of repairs and providing a letter from her therapist stating that the situation was affecting her mental health, the agency wouldn’t budge.

She made the decision to move out – to nowhere – and try relying on house-sitting to start saving towards her own place. “I’m turning 40 and single and don’t want to live in another shared house, and figure it’s probably cheaper and better in the long run to buy my own little place rather than pay rent,” she says. “I work freelance so it’s hard to save when I don’t have a consistent or guaranteed income.”

Relying on house-sitting gigs while touring her one-woman comedy show The Full Mifsud hasn’t been easy. “I never really planned on doing this full-time and it’s a hell of a commitment. Having to worry about where I’m going to live next is stressful, even though I am extremely lucky that I have family I can stay with and know that I will always be safe.”

For Francesca Cross and Christopher Thrower, a British couple who lived in a flat in south London for a decade, minding people’s homes and pets became a way to fulfil their dream of moving to Australia. In mid-2023 they moved out of their apartment and started a six-month period of house- and pet-sitting while saving for the big move.

“There are a lot of logistics when you house-sit full-time, such as trying to line them up nicely, meeting the owners, going through the pet’s routine … it definitely takes a lot of planning and commitment,” they say.

By December 2023 they had saved up enough to make the move to Melbourne, where they had a house sit set up on their arrival. “This was really nice to help us settle in and find our feet, without paying an extortionate rate for accommodation,” they say. “Plus, the doggy, Lexie, was such a sweetheart and helped us with the transition to a new country we’d now be calling home.”

Leonie van Eyk, a film-maker and artist living in a small house on the edge of Castlemaine in Victoria with her dog, Scooter, says looking for a pet-sitter is different to simply putting your home on Airbnb, because you need to find someone who will understand your pet’s peculiarities. “Sharing your house and animals is very much a trust exercise,” she says. “You want the pet-sitter to bond with your animal and feel at home.”

For this reason, Van Eyk prefers to source sitters from within her own community. “That helps to build trust, knowing they are already connected to my community rather than just randoms,” she says.

“Also I’m aware that for some people this can give them some welcome breathing space. A friend of mine has a child and they can’t secure rent in this town, as it’s become so expensive. So our house becomes like a second home to her and she loves our dog.”

Rose Bishop, who has hosted Mifsud multiple times, agrees that she finds it easier to trust a local sitter. “I’ve used an online pet-sitting service before but it was exorbitantly expensive and the sitter didn’t even stay at my apartment,” she says.

When Mifsud isn’t available, Bishop will ask “friends who are trying to get out of their sharehouses for a while, or who are travelling to Melbourne and need accommodation – and so far it’s always been comedians!”

“I love my dumb babies so much,” she says of her cats. “It’s so important to me that they’re getting love and attention from someone in my community.”

Cross and Thrower say they have minded their share of “characters” including a dog who peed with excitement every time they came home (they learned to not show him any love until they were outside) and a teenage cat called Kevin who had his own room and simply didn’t like them. “So it was less about, ‘We need to talk about Kevin’ and more, ‘We need to leave Kevin alone.’”

Mifsud says a conscientious attitude is vital. “I’ve heard horror stories of bad pet-sitters – someone who killed someone’s fish, another who didn’t change the kitty litter for three weeks.

“It’s a lot of work and admin, and people need to be doing it for the right reasons,” she says. “You have to really love animals.

“There’s a lot more people out there doing house- and pet-sits now owing to the cost-of-living crisis … I just want people considering this to take the responsibility seriously.”

This article first published in the Guardian

There’s something romantic about sitting by an open fireplace in winter time. But there’s growing evidence of the damage wood-fired heaters and open fires are doing to our health – and the environment.

As a group of University of Technology Sydney academics recently put it – “a wood-fired heater is like having a truck idling in your living room all day (albeit with the bulk of the emissions escaping via the chimney)”.

So what do we know about wood burning and are there alternatives for those wanting a cosy open-fire feel in their home without damaging the Earth?

What the evidence says

According to a 2024 study, wood burning in fireplaces and heaters is one of the biggest sources of air pollution in many parts of Australia. While only about 10% of Australian homes use wood burning as their primary heat source, they create more than half of Australia’s fine particulate pollution.

The health costs of this are bad enough, but the effect on the planet is also significant. Even so-called eco friendly wood heaters are doing damage – producing more particulate pollution than a modern truck.

That’s because burning firewood in fireplaces and domestic heaters produces methane and black carbon particles that worsen global heating. One study estimates that wood heaters cause as much or more emissions than gas or reverse-cycle air conditioning. On top of that, much of the firewood sold in urban areas comes from forest timber – further depleting essential carbon banks.

Lisa Cunial is a psychologist who has lived in Orange in NSW for more than 20 years. She says Orange is cold for seven months of the year and a lot of people use wood-burning heaters in their homes. “Being quite a major regional city, it’s a real problem.”

After the 2019 bushfires, Cunial ended up in hospital with severe breathing difficulties. “Wood is very much part of the culture here. But for me it means I literally have to stay inside the house with air filters even though I live near bushland and a wetland,” she says.

Mapping wood heater pollution

Fay Johnston, the director of the Centre for Safe Air and professor of environmental epidemiology at the University of Tasmania’s Menzies Institute for Medical Research recently created a wood heater pollution map showing which parts of Australia are estimated to have the most severe air pollution from wood heaters.

“When people think of pollution they often picture smokestacks, vehicle exhaust and coal-fired power stations, but wood heaters pollute more fine particulate matter into the air we breathe than any of these sources,” she says.

Johnston also points to the impact of firewood collection on Australia’s forests and habitat. “One study estimated that, if we stopped burning wood and clearing forest for heating, Australia would reduce its annual greenhouse gas emissions by 8.7m tonnes each year, about one-fifth of Australia’s car emissions.

What can you do?

According to Arabella Daniel, a Melbourne inner-city councillor and clean air community advocate who runs My Air Quality Australia, in the absence of strong public health or climate messaging, wood heating is wrongly seen as desirable and natural. “That lifestyle image is pushed, but the health [and environmental] impacts are ignored,” she says.

Wood heaters are sold cheaply with no warnings, despite evidence of serious environmental harm. “Burning wood is normalised, yet it worsens air pollution and contributes to climate change. Harvesting firewood damages biodiversity and depletes forests.”

She says now is the time for the Australian government to recognise wood heater pollution as a serious public health and climate issue, and to provide subsidies to phase them out over time, beginning with stopping new wood heater installations.

“Providing financial support to help people switch to clean, efficient, electric alternatives is cost effective. Public education is vital – people need to understand the health risks and the benefits of going electric. Such government action is already happening with getting off gas – we need to get off wood too.”

Johnston agrees, saying it’s time for governments to restrict the installation of new wood heaters in high-density residential areas where people will be affected by smoke pollution. “Point-of-sale legislation should be introduced requiring wood heaters to be replaced with non-polluting electric alternatives before a property changes hands.”

She says while we have sophisticated systems in place for food and water standards, “the problem of wood heaters has persisted because no environment or health authority in Australia sees themselves as bearing primary responsibility” for it.

Are there alternatives?

While there are some wood burning heaters that produce less emissions than others, including this ultra-low emission model developed in New Zealand, Daniel says the emissions from those models may still be too high to be safe for health or the climate.

“Those models were tested on NZ softwoods and not Australian hardwoods so the emissions will be greater here. All of these models still emit climate pollution and threaten our forests. We know the best alternative is for clean, electric split systems.”

She says for those who want the cozy appearance of a roaring fire in their homes without the climate impacts, the best option is an electric fireplace. There are plenty of different kinds of systems on the market that offer the appearance of a warm glowing flame but without any emissions.

These might not have the same romantic feel as wood, but you’ll be doing the climate – and your health – a favour.

This column first published in the Guardian

When people think of undertaking an environmentally friendly renovation on their homes, the first thing they might think of is replacing old inefficient appliances or going electric.

But for an increasing number of ecologically minded homeowners, reducing construction waste and recycling or repurposing existing infrastructure is just as important and even more affordable.

Minimum change for maximum benefit

Andrew Sweatman and his wife are empty-nesters approaching retirement who live in a century-old Edwardian house in Melbourne’s inner north. The couple’s renovation should ultimately lift their home’s energy rating from 0.9 to 7.7 stars.

But rather than following the trend of ripping the guts out of the house, they have elected to keep as much of the original building as possible intact and recycle the good parts, including elements of the back yard.

“This was a key philosophy of our architects too – we kept the same footprint with no massive rebuilds,” says Sweatman. “We realised it was time to freshen things up for our retirement and fix some key problems to improve the environmental performance of the house so this would be our forever home.”

The couple started by identifying the features they wanted to keep including the flooring, framing materials and some plasterworks and renovate around them, minimising costs and recycling where possible. They also maintained some original features like the front door and stained-glass windows.

“We wanted to maintain heritage aspects of the house instead of simply demolishing the whole home and keeping just a facade. We also decided we didn’t want to destroy the back yard to extend the home to be a mega house.”

The Sweatmans are improving the homes energy efficiency by installing solar, batteries, and more efficient electric appliances. They are also installing insulation under the floor, in the walls and the roof, triple glazed windows and designing upgrades to maximising passive solar exposure.

In this way they share architect Brave New Eco’s operating mantra of “minimum change for maximum benefit” in their approach to the project. “If you can minimise waste in this process it’s an extra benefit, you can do lots of amazing things with an existing building, you don’t need to demolish to get beauty just because home shows or designers tell you that it’s not possible,” Sweatman says.

Embracing ‘circularity’ as a renovating principle

Linden Thorley, a Sydney-based architect and chair of the Australian Passivhaus Association Retrofit Committee, says one of his top considerations is determining how much of a building can be kept intact in order to minimise construction waste, a principle called “circularity”.

He says in some cases the costs and risks associated with taking buildings apart, storing the materials and finding new uses for them can be costly, but there are huge benefits in reusing parts of the existing building.

“Many existing homes can be significantly improved to make them more comfortable and healthier to live in without completely demolishing them.”

Thorley says he often renovates houses through incremental improvements rather than a complete rebuild, staggering work to target low-hanging fruit in a home and focusing on the potential for passive solar are key elements to consider. “There’s no point adding heaps of insulation if there is a draft blowing through it. We can test for improvements in air tightness before spending money on additional insulation that is harder or more expensive to install.”

Maximising the use of available sunlight to warm the home in winter and exclude heat via well-placed shading is also a key consideration. “To support this we need a really well insulated, and relatively airtight building envelope that allows us to maintain our preferred inside temperature. This includes really well sealed windows when they are closed and excellent ventilation.”

“Learning to reuse materials instead of always using new ones is something we have to learn to do in a finite world,” he says.

First published in the Guardian

Bateteba Aselu describes her former life in Tuvalu as like living in the “safest place in the world” where the community looked out for each other, there was no homelessness and you rarely heard the sirens of police or ambulances.

But rising sea levels and extreme weather have created such an immediate existential threat to the tiny South Pacific island nation that when a new visa lottery to migrate to Australia closed last Friday, 8,750 people in 2,474 family groups – more than 80% of Tuvalu’s population of 11,000 residents – had applied for the world’s first “climate visas”.

“The impact of climate change about two decades ago has become such a significant challenge to people’s livelihoods,” says Aselu, who is doing a PhD in climate change at the University of Melbourne, focusing on small island states. She is one of those who has applied for the visa.

The new visa allows 280 Tuvaluans to move to Australia annually, part of the Falepili Union treaty signed in November 2023, which also included a security pact and $150m in new commitments to improve livelihoods in Tuvalu.

Aselu moved to Australia four years ago on a student visa. With her husband and two children, she lives in Melton South in Melbourne’s northern suburbs, part of a small Tuvaluan community of just a few hundred – a figure set to grow dramatically as the new climate visa arrivals flow into Australia.

Although the Australian High Commission in Tuvalu has been sharing promotional videos on social media to prepare people for the realities of life in Australia, Aselu says the transition is not easy.

Four years in, adjusting to Australian life has been “quite a challenging journey” for Aselu and her family, she says. “It is a lot to take in and a process that requires time … having the social network from families, colleagues from school and supervisors as well as spiritual space are crucial for us.”

Despite the challenges, Aselu is confident Tuvaluan culture will “persist no matter where we land or where we go”.

“We are collective and communal and we adapt as we go through this life. Already we have young people who are making waves in working to maintain and preserve our culture from technology to revival of Indigenous knowledge learning in school and community. That is hope for me and for my children and those after them,” she says.

Frayzel Uale and his family are also part of the Tuvaluan community in Melton and among those who applied for the visa. Uale moved to Australia four years ago with his parents and is studying a certificate III in information technology.

Uale says he doesn’t want to move back to Tuvalu to live as he has memories of the extreme weather there frightening him as a child. “Before they started the programs informing us about climate change, I remember waking up with water on the roads and [in] community buildings when the king tides would come on to the land – it was shocking.”

He now sees his future in Australia, where he has the opportunity to get a job, earn money and access everything he needs. But he says the small Tuvaluan community he is part of is actively working to protect and preserve his culture with “regular community events and gatherings”.

“The older generation is keeping cultural life alive and the younger generation is willing to learn. We practise our culture of traditional dancing and singing to ensure the culture will survive here. We will 100% protect our culture here in Australia.”

For Leni Malua-Mataka, a Tuvaluan mother living with her husband and children in Mount Isa in north-west Queensland, the new climate visa offers an opportunity to get ahead. “Coming from such a small country with very limited employment opportunities and few ways to grow wealth or even provide for your family, this opportunity to work, live and raise your family in Australia is a dream,” she says.

“We already have well-established small Tuvaluan communities here in Australia that are more than willing to help, as is our custom.”

A spokesperson for Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade said a range of support services would be made available to help new visa holders, including briefings on life in Australia, financial and digital literacy training and connecting visa holders with potential employment.

Jane McAdam, professor of law at the University of New South Wales, says although the majority of the population applied, that shouldn’t be read as everyone on Tuvalu wanting to leave due to the climate crisis. “I think it’s more that this visa opens up all sorts of possibilities for schooling and for work – and provides a safety net even if people do want to stay in Tuvalu,” she says.

He now sees his future in Australia, where he has the opportunity to get a job, earn money and access everything he needs. But he says the small Tuvaluan community he is part of is actively working to protect and preserve his culture with “regular community events and gatherings”.

“The older generation is keeping cultural life alive and the younger generation is willing to learn. We practise our culture of traditional dancing and singing to ensure the culture will survive here. We will 100% protect our culture here in Australia.”

For Leni Malua-Mataka, a Tuvaluan mother living with her husband and children in Mount Isa in north-west Queensland, the new climate visa offers an opportunity to get ahead. “Coming from such a small country with very limited employment opportunities and few ways to grow wealth or even provide for your family, this opportunity to work, live and raise your family in Australia is a dream,” she says.

“We already have well-established small Tuvaluan communities here in Australia that are more than willing to help, as is our custom.”

A spokesperson for Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade said a range of support services would be made available to help new visa holders, including briefings on life in Australia, financial and digital literacy training and connecting visa holders with potential employment.

Jane McAdam, professor of law at the University of New South Wales, says although the majority of the population applied, that shouldn’t be read as everyone on Tuvalu wanting to leave due to the climate crisis. “I think it’s more that this visa opens up all sorts of possibilities for schooling and for work – and provides a safety net even if people do want to stay in Tuvalu,” she says.

This article first published in The Guardian

As someone who has visited the snow for holidays since childhood, I’m sure I’m not alone in feeling increasingly uneasy about a once-cherished pastime.

For nature lovers, skiing offers a fantastic opportunity to appreciate the alpine environment – but it’s a carbon-intensive activity and the industry that surrounds it is causing negative climate impacts.

In Australia, on our current emissions trajectory, ski seasons will be between 44 and 55 days shorter by 2050, according to a report last month by the Australian National University. Ski resorts around the world are increasingly relying on artificial snow making – a process that uses vast amounts of water and energy, creating an unsustainable and counterproductive cycle for winter sports.

Like most climate impacts there’s a limit to how much individuals can do, and structural change is needed. But there are still meaningful steps we can take when visiting the snowfields to make our trips more sustainable.

1. Start by reducing our (snow)print

According to Cam Walker, a veteran environmental campaign manager for Friends of the Earth Australia and longtime skier, there are tangible things we can do to reduce our carbon footprint.

After many years of enjoying groomed runs in Australian resorts, Walker says he now mostly prefers cross and backcountry skiing, which don’t require as much infrastructure and offer greater exposure to nature away from the crowds.

He recommends people consider travelling to the snow using public transport, which cuts costs, unclogs alpine roads and lowers carbon emissions. There are train and bus services connecting cities including Wangaratta in Victoria’s north-east to resorts including Mount Buller and Falls Creek, while the Snowy Mountains bus service links Jindabyne with Perisher and Thredbo in New South Wales.

If you prefer to drive, consider ride sharing – most resorts have Facebook pages where you can organise a lift and some have ride sharing pages. If you want to fly to international snowfields, think about replacing an annual pilgrimage with fewer, longer trips.

Another option is to rent your equipment rather than buying it – especially if it’s your first time out on the slopes.

2. Don’t switch on your ‘holiday brain’https://6488ca331fcbc685a588ed75173a3f1d.safeframe.googlesyndication.com/safeframe/1-0-45/html/container.html

Walker says one of thechallenges in reducing the environmental impact of tourism is that many people go into holiday mode – turning heating up to full, not recycling and even littering.

If you carry a reusable cup in your normal life, do so in the ski fields, too, and take advantage of the recycling facilities many resorts now offer, with well-marked bins around the mountain. At Mount Hotham, for example, the resort has a “living bin” program to properly recycle food scraps, which is estimated to account for 50% of its waste.

And some resorts offer carbon-intensive extras including helicopter or snowmobile rides into backcountry areas. These should be avoided.

3. Encourage resorts to do better

Auden Schendler, the author of the book Terrible beauty: Reckoning with climate complicity and rediscovering our soul and a former senior vice-president of Aspen Skiing Company, says the ski industry has largely dodged the hard work to be done on climate up until now by focusing on modest operational tweaks and putting the responsibility on individuals.

“Instead, what resorts should do is publicly and loudly use their voice, power, influence and media play to advocate for policy changes at the province and federal level,” he says. “This includes publicly lobbying and discussing the threat of climate change and the need for major policy solutions, like fees on carbon, incentives for clean power, and so forth.”

Walker agrees, arguing that skiers should be applying pressure on resorts. “While some globally owned resorts have done a great job of reducing their emissions by shifting to renewable energy, most in Australia have not,” he says. “Ask questions when you book your holiday – are the lifts and snow making running off green electricity? If not, why not?

“If people ask these hard questions and apply significant consumer pressure, resort management will need to respond.”

This article first published in The Guardian

For many Australians the onset of winter has often meant piling on extra layers at home, waking up breathing a mist of condensation and keeping blankets and doonas handy on the couch as the winter chill bites. Either that or racking up massive winter energy bills powering inefficient appliances in uninsulated homes.

But according to the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA), the first step to reducing massive bills and increasing winter comfort is to switch away from gas. Their most recent modelling shows that a typical home in Melbourne could save over $1,300 annually by switching its gas appliances to efficient electric alternatives.

With that in mind, what are the most carbon (and wallet) friendly ways to stay warm this winter?

Reverse cycle air-con is your friend

Tim Forcey, author of My Efficient Electric Home Handbook, says that after working and writing about home efficiency for over a decade – the verdict is in and the most sustainable and cheapest way to heat your home over winter is with reverse-cycle air conditioners.

The main hurdle preventing their widespread use comes down to branding. “We’ve demonised the use of air conditioners – some people still think they should only be used in emergencies,” he says. “But the reality is that heating with an air-con can cost a third of the cost of heating with gas.”

Jay Gordon from IEEFA says he has calculated that a reverse-cycle air conditioner uses about a fifth of the energy of a ducted heater. “Heat pump hot water systems are also several times more efficient than gas hot water systems, and homes that fully replace their gas appliances can save over $300 in fixed annual charges by disconnecting from the gas network,” he says.

So switching away from gas is the first step towards a more efficient and less costly warm home in winter – and it is worth looking into any government rebates available in your area to take the sting out of upgrading your home.

Don’t ditch the oil heater just yet

Electric and oil heaters can of course still serve a purpose if used in small spaces such as under your desk at home, says Forcey, as they work like a toaster and can take the edge off. Many may also have the advantage of including timers to regulate their use, but it’s worth keeping track of how much energy they use to make sure you don’t get a nasty surprise at the end of winter.

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It’s worth noting that several Australian states are now offering significant rebates for installing electric appliances. In Victoria, if gas appliances break down, it is now often cheaper to replace them with more efficient electric appliances.

Small improvements go a long way

We all know that most older Australian homes and apartments can feel like glorified tents in winter so DIY, low-cost improvements such as draught stoppers, gap sealings, and even installing heavy curtains and keeping them closed during the day, can help your home retain heat and remove drafts.

On top of renewable energy upgrades, it’s also vital that you prepare your home with back-to-basics thermal efficiency improvements. The most practical home renovations you could make include double-glazing your windows and upgrading ceiling insulation. These investments can make a big impact in terms of reducing energy consumption and cost.

It’s also worth considering having a smart meter installed in your home to help understand and regulate your overall energy consumption patterns. These will allow you to monitor your electricity consumption in real time (even remotely) and eliminate the need for manual meter readings or estimated bills.

Take advantage of the sun

For those renting or without the budget to upgrade your home’s energy system or undertake costly renovations – other practical measures include something as simple as taking advantage of the sun’s rays during the day by spending more time in those rooms that attract the most direct sunlight.

And if double-glazing is outside your budget, using bubble-wrap over the windows in winter is a poor-man’s solution that will help regulate your home’s thermal envelope. Another age-old trick I’ve found myself doing is wearing my mother’s warm hand-knitted socks both around the home and in bed to increase personal comfort levels as the mercury drops.

Of course, perhaps the most practical way to stay warm this winter might be to find yourself a warm pet or human to cuddle. But that’s something no government rebate can help you with.

This article first published in The Guardian

Footy, fun and rock’n’roll awaits when this year’s Reclink Community Cup kicks off on Sunday at Victoria Park in Melbourne. So promises Chris Gill, a veteran player who will take to the field for the 17th time this year.

“It’s a super-funky, family-friendly day. Actually, quite a fantastical day,” the record store owner and radio host says.

Since the inaugural match in Melbourne in 1993, the Community Cup has gone national and gained a cult following, with games scheduled later this year in Sydney, Brisbane, Adelaide, Hobart, Canberra and Perth.

Sunday’s event will draw a “massive crowd of music fans, there to eyeball the cultural athletes” and support a charitable cause, Gill says, as it pits local musicians (aptly named the Rockdogs in black, red and yellow) against the Megahertz, a team made up of community radio presenters from Triple R and PBS (in red and white stripes), with live bands playing throughout the day.

Gill says that the combination of footy, mud, crazy costumes and rock’n’roll gives rise to some of the funniest moments you’re ever likely to see on a sports field.

“Some of the funniest moments have occurred when streakers have taken to the field, including one memorable year when a family of four streaked – that was weird … Or when we all did the flashmob of Time Warp during the game, or the time the WAM-BULANCE came out to help people who were having time out on the sidelines.”

He also recalls speaking with Anthony Albanese on the footy field in 2019 and asking him if he’d heard the awesome new single by Kaiit called Miss Shiney. “He was like, ‘Yes, it’s a monster single, she’s a legend.’ And she is!!!”

Albanese has in previous years pulled on a guernsey for the Western Walers at Henson Park in Marrickville, and DJ’d at fundraising gigs at venues including the Corner hotel in Melbourne.

Albanese has in previous years pulled on a guernsey for the Western Walers at Henson Park in Marrickville, and DJ’d at fundraising gigs at venues including the Corner hotel in Melbourne.

Crehan says she was drawn to the Community Cup because it “is all about encouraging each other to have a go and enjoy ourselves, while letting the crowd feel a part of the fun too”.

“The true heroes are Reclink though, as they do this all year round, nurturing inclusivity and connection for people who might otherwise miss out.”

According to Dave Wells, CEO of Reclink Australia, the Community Cup generates more than $250,000 each year for the organisation, which works with Australians experiencing serious disadvantages by connecting communities through sport and recreation to improve mental and physical health and reduce social isolation.

“We look at the Cup as essentially a one-day music festival that just happens to be interrupted by a fairly average game of Aussie Rules,” he says. “This means that people of all genders and abilities are welcome and able to play on the same field, in a version of the game that is designed to maximise participation, and with less focus on the actual score.”

The Community Cup has hosted its share of Australian rock legends over the years, including such luminaries as Tim Rogers, Dan Sultan, Adalita, Courtney Barnett and Regurgitator, some of whom have pulled on footy boots as well as performing.

Australian rock darlings Frente will head up the music lineup on Sunday, and their beloved track Ordinary Angels has been adopted as this year’s theme song for the annual fundraising event, celebrating the “unsung legends of community – the ones who show up, uplift others, and create joy on and off the field”.

This year for the first time a green vinyl compilation record will be released featuring some of the musical history of the Cup, with tracks from Rockdogs former coach Paul Kelly, and other past performers including TISM, Baker Boy, Hiatus Kaiyote and Archie Roach, who was honoured posthumously at the Cup in 2022.

First published in the Guardian

Australia has the highest uptake of rooftop solar in the world – with more than 4m solar installations across the country.

In 2022 more than 30% of Australian households were generating solar energy on their rooftops – but in many cases people living in apartments have been left behind.

Despite accounting for 16% of Australia’s dwellings, only about 3% of apartments have solar installed.

To give apartment dwellers the same opportunity to access clean and affordable solar energy, state governments are offering generous rebates to help them join the clean energy transition, including this program, open to apartment owners in NSW.

But there are a few steps you’ll need to consider before signing up.

Do your research

Rob McKay lives in a block of nine double-brick apartments in the Sydney suburb of Cremorne with a mix of renters and owner occupiers.

“We first started looking at solar for the building before Covid. We’re fortunate in that our local council, North Sydney, is very supportive of sustainability options,” he says, noting in particular council rebates for solar panels and batteries.

“We realised we were eligible for a battery rebate from the state government [as well as] the North Sydney council rebates.”

After researching the options he found out about technology that enables the allocation of power between multiple units behind the meter. The next step was to use a solar comparison website to assess the building’s solar and battery needs, as well as EV infrastructure requirements in the building’s basement.

“Armed with that information, we ran a tender for solar and battery suppliers, chose a preferred supplier and installed a system that went live in December” he says.

Build up some capital

McKay says that, in retrospect, the delays from lockdowns were a blessing as they allowed the apartment block time to build up its capital works fund (thereby avoiding the need for a special levy) and to understand the options better. “Since flicking the switch, we’ve generated 82% of our overall power consumption, although we share that in both directions with the grid.

“As a result, we’ve had material decreases in our individual power bills and happy residents, whether owner occupiers or tenants.”

Get the neighbours onboard

Once you’ve figured out which rebates you are eligible for, you’ll still need to navigate a careful path between your owners’ corporation, fellow apartment owners or occupiers and strata managers.

Be prepared to come up against some resistance, as some owners may not be keen to front up the extra costs involved, especially in a cost-of-living crisis. But highlighting the longterm economic savings of the investment is a good strategy.

Jeff Sykes from Solar Choice says the benefits can be enormous for apartment dwellers as they are often the people most in need of assistance with growing energy costs.

“Shared solar projects targeting the whole building also benefit renters who traditionally have been left out of solar projects,” he says.

“The feedback once solar is installed is almost always overwhelmingly positive and these projects will improve the property values of all owners and deliver benefits to residents for 25 years.”

Install a smart meter

McKay says the best way to bring neighbours along for the journey is to install a smart meter so that everyone can see how the power is being distributed. This also helps to keep up regular communication throughout the installation process.

“It has made residents more aware of their power consumption, opening up more electricity retailer options for them,” he says.

Ultimately, if you can help get everyone’s power bill down while reducing your carbon footprint, that’s a win for everyone.

This article first published in The Guardian