Green Living. Every one of us can do something to live more sustainably. And at the Environment Centre NT we are helping Territorians do just that. In the Top End, living sustainably means working with the tropical climate. It can mean building a house or renting a flat that is designed to catch the breezes and avoid the harsh sun hititng the windows or outside walls. Or growing your food in your back yard or at a community permaculture garden, to reduce the carbon pollution and costs from transporting it from thousands of kilometres away. Or catching the bus or riding a bike instead of driving. With a price on carbon on its way and the cost of fossil fuels increasing due to peak oil, this will save you money, cut carbon pollution and keep you fit! Just because we live in a remote place, surrounded by nature, it doesn’t mean we should go on using Earth’s resources like there’s no tomorrow. We all need to play our part in conserving precious resources such as water and energy. There are lots of things you can do every day to live more sustainably. Keep reading and follow the links to find out how.
COOLmob is a sustainable living program of the Environment Centre NT. Established in 2002 as part of the Federal Government’s Cool Communities program, COOLmob today provides a range of services which together make it easier for households to live sustainably. These include:
• Home sustainability assessments for households Subsidised energy and water efficient products, and
• Advice on sustainability issues through educational facts sheets, materials and presentations.
To find out more about these and other things which you can do to live sustainably please refer to our website: COOLmob.org. Over the past two years we also hosted Sustainability Week whiched provided a focus in the annual calendar in Greater Darwin for a series of sustainability events. In 2013 we’re planning to host Sustainability Month! This is a reflection of the growing interest from community, local government and business in supporting sustainable living. Over the past three years we hosted the Top End Sustainable Living Festival in June along with a wide range of community groups, government and businesses. We delivered the Festival in conjunction with the Tropical Gardens Spectacular, which is hosted by the Nursery & Garden Industry NT. We’re now rethinking how we deliver such an event in the future and we’ll be talking with potential partners about the best way to do that. If you’ve got ideas, we’d love to hear them.