[From the current issue of Eco News - the newspaper of the Sunshine Coast Environment Council, Queensland Australia - due out Sept 21]
A NEW community action centre has opened on the Sunshine Coast, which aims to lead the way with real community-based solutions to climate change and peak oil.
The Sunshine Coast Energy Action Centre, (SEAC), operating out of the Blue House at the Maroochy Community Permaculture Gardens at Yandina, is open every Saturday morning to the public and offers a range of free information and events to raise awareness about these important global issues and promote positive and practical solutions at a local level.
"Energy-aware individuals are already making the changes they need within their own homes to prepare for a low- energy future, but serious infrastructure reorganisation needs to also happen on a regional, state and federal level,” said centre coordinator, Sonya Wallace.
“People are becoming increasingly aware of just how unsustainable our dependence on fossil fuels is and the threat emissions are causing to our atmosphere and they are making responsible changes to decrease the amount of non-renewable resources they use in their daily lives.
“And we also need to factor peak oil into the equation too. The two issues of climate change and peak oil are inextricably linked and both relate to society’s overuse and dependence on cheap oil and cannot, in my opinion be separated. Any solution to climate change must also address peak oil.”
She went on to say: “Water, energy, petrol, food – all of these vital resources are affecting global climate change and will be affected by peak oil. Prices are set to soar and we are beginning to see that happening now.”
People are becoming increasingly aware of just how unsustainable our dependence on fossil fuels is — Sonya Wallace
SEAC aims to make a real difference in our local region by providing inspirational education, information, planning and action strategies which will be presented to local government, and by promoting sustainable choices for a low impact, low emission future. This will done by working toward the relocalisation of many important aspects of our society including; food supply, transportation, education, health, finances and economies, employment, and land use.
The centre will focus on raising awareness in the community about how our lives will be affected and how we can prepare for peak oil and work toward the stabilisation or modification of our climate.
The Sunshine Coast Energy Action Centre is one of several new projects being implemented on the Coast.
There is also a course being run which will produce an Energy Descent Action Plan for the region.
“Energy descent action planning was first developed in Kinsale, Ireland, by UK permaculturist Rob Hopkins,” said Ms Wallace.
“Rob was teaching permaculture and he and his students started working on an Energy Descent Action Plan, based on permaculture principles, for their local shire.
“The document was so useful the council agreed unanimously to adopt it. Kinsale is now the first town in the world to be a ‘transition town’, actively and publicly making the move from a high energy use town to a low energy use town.”
SEAC will be the focal point for the Sunshine Coast Energy Descent Action Plan, which will be developed by students studying the ‘Time for an Oil Change’ course. Solutions and initiatives from course participants will be handed over to the Maroochy Shire Council which has shown great enthusiasm and support for the development of an Energy Descent Action Plan, which will most likely be an Australian first.
“Janet Millington and myself have been developing this new course based on David Holmgren’s book: Permaculture; Principles & Pathways Beyond Sustainability which will explore permaculture principles and their application to the social restructuring needed to ensure we have a high quality of life in the future,” said Ms Wallace.
If anyone is interested in being involved in the Sunshine Coast Energy Action Centre or enrolling in the Time for an Oil Change course, or just finding out more about the range of positive regional solutions to these global problems, please contact Sonya Wallace on 0408 013 012, email info@seac.net.auThis e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it or visit www.seac.net.au
“I believe solutions to these problems will come from the community and local governments taking the lead and that climate change and peak oil present us with a vast array of opportunities to create a much better, community focused, higher quality of life in the future and for generations to come,” added Ms Wallace.
